


It's the End of the World As We Know It

by dreamsofboston



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst and Humor, Cannabis, Character Death, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Original Character(s), Reverse Harem, RoadTrip!, Romance, Slow Burn, Smoking, Smut, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, allow me to open your eyes, everybody goes to karasuno it's just a clusterfuck but it's gonna be fun trust, himbo energy is extremely strong in this one, how else can i warn people we will be getting high in this one, i headcanoned the boys smoking weed ONCE and i can never go back, its hot girl summer, its my fantasy and i get to choose who lives, quarantine inspiration lol, smoking weed, starts out serious and sad but gets happier i promise, the only spoiler is that the dog does NOT die, w33d, will add more characters/ships as this develops hehe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:54:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23356510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsofboston/pseuds/dreamsofboston
Summary: During the international quarantine in your first-ever pandemic, the people around you slowly begin to disappear. As the world grows quieter and quieter, you find yourself all alone-- no power, no friends, and only one goal: to find whoever of your friends might be left and reunite with them.You're naive to think anything can be that simple. As you're faced with ever-increasing loneliness, you run into some boys who apparently went to the same high school as you. Will you join forces with them to figure out your strange circumstances together, or will you brave loneliness in a world that is slowly crumbling apart?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Reader, Bokuto Koutarou/Reader, Iwaizumi Hajime/Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader, Oikawa Tooru/Reader, Terushima Yuuji/Reader
Comments: 199
Kudos: 234





	1. Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> uh oh, it's a crackfic that has come to fruition because i am in quarantine and ignoring my schoolwork!! this is just a little cluster of some of my fave boys-- not all of them will be incorporated all at once! it's gonna be a process. this is a whole ass roller coaster, AND it's my first fic for haikyuu, so i hope you are all excited for a weird ride!
> 
> romance is guaranteed, jokes are inevitable, and the dog doesn't die. please enjoy!

It was a Thursday the day everyone disappeared. 

The world was quiet outside, but it was loud in your phone, on account of the international quarantine. Everyone was tweeting, making dumb videos, playing video games. You would sit in your room for hours on end, scrolling through your phone as you mourned the loss of your senior year of high school. No prom, no graduation, no more arts and crafts club. It was bad enough that your closest friend group had been disbanded before your senior year even started-- it was just bad luck, but they all left to live in different states while you were left alone in suburbia.

You stayed home with your mom while your dad went to work-- he was considered an essential worker, as he worked in the grocery store. Your mom was much more active than you, constantly cleaning or cooking or going for a walk. It was admirable, but it irritated you how she would always try and get you to interact with her activities. She did it because she was probably worried about you, and she was probably lonely. You were lonely, too-- your friends lived miles away in the vast expanse of the suburbs, and your home was tucked into the fringes of soccer mom society. Your backyard was larger than most, and it was perfect for when you would host kickbacks with your friends. Recently, however, you had no reason to use the large space. 

On Thursday, you decided to put down your phone for a while and play fetch with your dog. She was the biggest and fluffiest best friend you’d ever had, a german shepherd named Indie, short for Indiana, as in the archaeologist. You thought the name was fitting, because she could find almost anything with her nose-- you and your mom had trained her to do that a few summers ago. 

Your mom had gone on a walk before you decided to play fetch with the dog. You had left your phone on the kitchen table. It wasn’t until the sun began to set and you felt your arm begin to ache when you noticed that she’d been gone for a while. 

You gave Indie her stick, though she sniffed and whined at you stressfully. You frowned, and let her inside as you checked your phone. A few notifications from your friends’ group chat:

4:47pm  
Kimi: Anybody else’s power go out?  
Callie: omg i thought it was just Ohio!  
Kimi: Nah, we got it in Connecticut, too.  
Emily: New York, too!

They were asking if you had experienced the same thing. 

6:48pm  
Me: i didnt notice, i was playing with indie. wbu, sami?

Sami had moved to L.A., about two hours from your home, so you guys were able to hang out most weekends if you took the train or if she drove out to you. She didn’t even read the chat.

6:48pm  
Me: bitch i know ur in quarantine smh read my message  
[Kimi, Callie, and Emily liked your message!]

You dialed your mom’s number as you went to turn on the T.V., only to be met with static. You frowned, and surfed a few channels only to be met with more static before you turned it off. Her voicemail blared through your phone speakers, and that was when you started to worry.

You hung up, called your dad. 

“Hey, honey!” He answered-- he must’ve been on break.

“Dad, did the power go out?”

“Yeah, for a couple minutes there. Did it happen at home, too?”

“Yeah…” You trailed off. Indie licked your hand, and whined some more. “Hey, mom’s not answering her phone and she’s been on a walk for a while. Like, three hours.”

“Huh.” Your dad let out a contemplative sigh. “Well, I’m sure she’ll be okay. Maybe she’s talking with the neighbors and her phone died.”

“Maybe.” 

But maybe not. You had a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach, and Indie could sense it as you sat on the couch. She slowly tried to inch her way into your lap, as she never really had a good idea of her own large size. You just let her and scratched her ear.

“Listen, honey, I gotta go. But we can make mac-n-cheese for dinner, how’s that sound?”

“Good, dad.” You said, biting your lip. “Okay, see you when you get home.”

Then, you hung up, and you waited for your mom.

[-]

When your dad got home, you went out to search for your mom. On your tour of the neighborhood, you came across others who had broken quarantine and were searching for their loved ones, too. Saying they went for a walk, or to the store and they didn’t come back. 

Your dad remained the voice of reason, saying things like well maybe their phone died, or this is all just some big prank we’ll all laugh about later. You stayed silent.

[-]

Saturday was when your dad didn’t come home. His car was nowhere to be found, but you didn’t trust yourself to drive your mom’s car just yet. Or rather, you didn’t want to drive it because you didn’t want to be reminded that it was permanently vacant. You walked all the way to the store an hour after he was supposed to have gotten off. Manager Dan wasn’t there, either-- nobody had seen your dad at all that day; he was a no-call, no-show. 

You walked all the way back home. 

9:52pm  
Me: my dad’s gone now too

10:05pm  
Callie: fuck.  
Callie: my sister…

10:06pm  
Kimi: I still haven’t heard from Sami.  
Emily: Yeah, me neither.

10:15pm  
Me: we should check in every day with each other  
[Callie and Emily liked your message!]

10:32  
Me: Kimi?

[-]

It’s Thursday again. 

Emily has stopped answering by now, and the frantic search parties that used to pass by your window every now and again have stopped, too. Even Twitter is quiet-- it seems with every passing day, more and more people go silent. As you lay on your bed with Indie at your feet, you keep refreshing your feed on every social media app, but nothing changes-- all of the posts are old. It feels like your world is shrinking while at the same time expanding into a terrifying void.

5:38pm  
Me: callie?  
Callie: im here.

You breathe a sigh of relief, which turns into a sob into your pillow. 

5:39pm  
Me: idk how long we’ll have wifi or even electricity.  
Callie: my parents are still here. Come to ohio, seriously.

You bite your lip. You think about Sami, and how many times she pried the truth out of you when you were sad, how she was the only one who would sing with you at karaoke, how you promised to move to New York together. 

5:39pm  
Me: i have to find sami.  
Callie: please just come here. We need to stick together.  
Me: i’ll find sami and we’ll come to ohio. Then we go to NY to look for em and kimi.

5:45pm  
Callie: okay. Please text.  
Me: i will. I promise i’ll come to ohio.

You bite your lip, and glance at your phone’s percentage: 43%. You sigh, and put it on the charger while you go downstairs to scrounge for breakfast. You only woke up about two hours ago, though you can’t sleep much, anyways. You think to yourself how your mom would be scolding you for waking up so late. 

As you eat the last poptart, Indie lays down on your feet. You toss her a couple crumbs, she eats them gratefully. You sigh, and look at your now empty pantry-- you have to try and go to the grocery store, whether you like it or not. You only have your permit, but you know that you’re a terrible driver. Still, you get up and put on shoes and grab your jacket. You probably don’t have to worry about cops or the law anymore, anyway-- you suspect everything has disappeared.

You look at yourself in the mirror; you didn’t think your outfit for the apocalypse would be sweatpants and a hoodie. With a sigh, you change into jeans and a long sleeve, layer a flannel on top of that, and your favorite jacket on top of that. It’s cold outside-- much colder than you’re used to. 

Based on the incredible silence on Facebook, you figure that most of the adults have disappeared. As you drive further and further into town, you notice some obvious signs of looting from once pristine houses: trash littering lawns, doors left wide open. You get the haunting realization that you’re perhaps the only person left in your neighborhood. It’s amazing how quickly things can turn in just a few days. 

When you pull up to the grocery store, you notice there’s only one other car there-- a white van, stationed by the curb and still running. You actually pull into a parking spot like some kind of society bootlicker, and cautiously put the car in park and turn off the engine.

You watch the van for a moment, slowly becoming hyper-aware of the very real possibility that you might run into robbers. Your stomach growls, and you take a deep breath. You should’ve brought Indie. 

Grocery bags in hand, you exit your soccer mom minivan and lock it. Steeling your nerves, you put one foot in front of the other. As if on cue, two figures hurry out of the store, glancing behind them before they notice you. The automatic doors have long since stopped running, so they just pause in the doorway while you freeze on the curb, the fumes from the van tickling your nose. 

They’re both boys holding bags you assume to be filled with groceries: both around your age, one of them has gray and black spiked hair, and eyes as wide and aware as an owl’s. The one next to him has dark, short, almost curly hair, and his gaze is calculating and cold. 

You take a small step back, unsure of what to say. They seem just as apprehensive, when the van door slides open forcefully. 

“Hey, what are you doing? Get in!” Another boy, this one of a larger build than the two in front of you with jet black spiked hair, snaps angrily. 

“Kuroo, we have a situation.” The curly-haired boy says evenly, though he’s tense. His knuckles are white holding his bags. 

“Huh?” The one who must be Kuroo says, and cranes his neck to the side to spot you. “Oh, shit.” 

“U-um…” You stutter out, and you suddenly feel extremely cornered-- it’s three against one, and what if they want to take your car? What if they have some kind of weird cult and need a girl for breeding? “I’m just gonna get some-- some poptarts and leave.” 

“Holy shit!!” The gray haired one seems to have broken out of his stupor, and he rushes over to you, dropping his bags and their contents on the ground in order to grab your shoulders. “Another person! A-a girl!”

“Yes, she’s a girl…” The curly-haired one sighs, puts his bags in the van and begins to gather up the other one’s forgotten groceries. 

“First one I’ve seen in a while.” Kuroo grins and hops from the car to stand beside the gray-haired one who still hasn’t let go of you. You don’t have the balls to tell him to get off-- you’re not sure how dangerous these boys are. “How long have you been hiding out?”

“Come with us! We’re at the high school.” The gray-haired one beams-- how could he possibly be smiling?

You don’t know what to say, so you look away. Your voice seems to be caught in your throat, and that’s extremely frustrating-- but you’re not about to cry in front of these guys. 

“Quit it, Bokuto.” The curly-haired one is eyeing you carefully, though not as if you’re a threat. He seems to be the only one that can actually sense your discomfort. The one that’s holding you-- Bokuto-- sighs, and lets you go, instead putting his hands on his hips. 

“We should at least help her.” He points out, and grins down at you. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“She’s not gonna tell you. Let’s just go home.” Kuroo shrugs, and you cross your arms. 

You tell them your name, if only to spite the taller one. He turns with a grin, and it only just occurs to you that perhaps, that was reverse-psychology. You huff, and look away with a little bit of a blush. 

“Like I said, I just need to get poptarts and some other things and then I’m going back home.” You mutter. 

“We’re wasting gas.” The curly-haired one calls, as he has already sat in the front seat. 

“Hold on, Akaashi!” Bokuto calls. “Listen, there aren’t anymore poptarts in there. None whatsoever.” 

Your heart breaks a little, but you keep it together.

“There’s, like, rice and stuff, but I think that’s it.” He shrugs, and turns to get into the van. You bite your lip-- might as well ask rather than waste your time wandering around all alone. 

“Is there any dog food left?” 

“Huh? Dog food?” Bokuto is right back in front of you. He and Kuroo speak at the same time:

“You’re gonna eat dog food?” Bokuto says.  
“You have a dog?” Kuroo says, and the two boys glare at each other.

“Yeah…” You say, though you still haven’t gotten an answer to your question. “I mean, I have a dog.”

“Yeah, it’s in aisle five.” You hear the one called Akaashi tell you, without even bothering to turn to look at you.

“I know that.” You snap-- your dad used to work in this store, you know it pretty damn well. Akaashi glances back at you then, probably a little surprised by your defensive tone. You huff, annoyed at yourself for being so touchy. These were the first people you met after about three straight weeks in quarantine, and they might be the only people left for miles. You need to play nice. 

“My dad works here.” You explain, looking down at your shoes. Kuroo nods, exchanges a glance with Bokuto. “Well, he used to.” 

A silence falls over the group-- they know. You all know, now, what it’s like to lose a parent, or any loved one, for that matter. You blink quickly to fight back any tears that might threaten to escape. 

“We’re staying at Karasuno High-- it’s the high school near Flat Top.” Kuroo says. “If you want to join us, we’re kind of setting up camp there.” 

“There’s more of us!” Bokuto explains. “We’re gonna find some mattresses after this to bring ‘em back so we can all stick together.” 

“Oh, cool.” You say half-heartedly, unsure of why exactly they’re inviting you over as if it’s some kind of fun sleepover. “Wait, you guys went to Karasuno?”

“Yeah! You, too?” Bokuto lights up, and you look at the three boys a little closer, though you don’t seem to recognize them. 

“Yeah… but I don’t think we were in the same circles.” You finally smile a little, albeit sadly, now that you’re remembering all the things you’ll never be able to return to now that school and society are essentially gone. 

“You ever go to any volleyball games?” Kuroo asks, obviously encouraged by your smile. You shake your head. 

Akaashi has exited the van by now with a sigh, coming to stand beside his two friends as he takes a look around. “We need to get going. If you want to join us, you know where to find us. But it’s gonna be dark soon.” 

That seems to smack some sense into the other two, and they exchange glances with one another. Kuroo nods, Bokuto sighs, and the two get back into the van. Akaashi pauses, and you accidentally lock eyes with him. 

His gaze betrays nothing, and you wonder for a moment how he ever became friends with these two. He reaches into the van, and pulls out a familiar blue cardboard box, gives it to you. 

You take the poptarts, and glance up at him questioningly-- he puts a finger to his lips with just the hint of a smile. You smile back. 

“Listen, it’s great you have a dog-- keep him close. And get home before it gets dark. And…” He glances to the side uneasily. “Get a baseball bat or something.”

A chill goes up your spine at that last part, and you frown, but nod to the boy in front of you anyways. He returns the nod, and gets in the back of the van. You both share a glance at each other one more time, and it feels as if he wants to say something more, but he doesn’t. He just slides the door closed, and Bokuto waves to you out the window. 

“Byee! Hopefully we’ll see you later-- hey, where’d you get those poptarts?!” Bokuto’s voice fades away as the van drives off, and you are once again left alone.

[-]

You gather a fair amount of stuff-- rope, for some reason is included in your loot. You always saw people in the movies get rope, so you figure you’ll find some use for it. 

There aren’t any baseball bats, but you do find a hammer and a paring knife. It’s small, but better than nothing. You load up on the dog food, and even manage to haul two huge bags of kibble into your car. As you load it up, you can’t shake the feeling of someone watching you. Even though you look around and make certain that you’re the only person present, the feeling doesn’t go away. You sort of wish you’d gone with those boys now.

You aren’t surprised when the street lights don’t turn on, but you take that as your signal to leave. Even though you want to scrounge for more supplies, you don’t want to risk it. Akaashi’s words of warning hang over your head like a humid fog. 

As you drive home, you can’t stop chewing on your lip. Even with your headlights on, it’s hard to see, but you don’t want to turn on your brights and draw more attention to yourself. Just get home, lock the doors, and check in with Callie. 

You park the car in your backyard because the garage door won’t open-- the power’s finally gone out. You close the backyard gate and lock it as soon as you’re out of the car, but somehow you still feel uneasy.

As you enter your dark home, you softly call out Indie’s name, and you hear her scamper up to you. 

“Good girl,” You whisper, and scratch her ear. You decide to leave the larger groceries in the car for now, as you don’t want to go back outside and keep making trips of transferring the supplies into your house. For now, you need to sleep so that you can ignore the hunger in your belly and stretch out your rations just a little further. 

Indie guides you up the stairs and into your bedroom as you set your bag down heavily. You come across your phone with dismay, finding that it hasn’t charged at all since you left, and is now at 7%. You bite your lip, and open up the almost abandoned group chat.

9:57pm  
Me: callie im gonna come to ohio soon. I think we are gonna lose connection tho. Idk if this will even send, but ill see u in ohio. I love you.

The message doesn’t send. You shudder out a sigh, and you’re grateful when Indie nuzzles into your side. 

Your phone finally shuts off, though it’s useless now, anyway. You crawl into your bed and Indie curls up next to you, and you fall into an uneasy sleep.

[-]

“Shh!”

You jolt awake at the hissing sound that’s coming from downstairs. Indie is tense and alert, and she licks your elbow. You sit up, and vaguely note the time: 3:37am. 

There’s some shuffling, and you see the beam of what you assume to be a flashlight shakily illuminate the walls downstairs. You didn’t close your bedroom door when you came in, because you assumed that you were alone. 

_‘Stupid…’_ You think to yourself as you grip Indie’s collar. She begins to growl, but you shush her quickly, though she flattens her ears back at you. Letting out a shaky breath, you crawl off of your bed as silently as you can manage, and reach for the hammer and paring knife in your bag. 

Indie follows you as you venture into the hallway, and you perch behind the bars of your stairs as the hushed conversation down below becomes clearer.

“Just find whatever food you can and let’s go.” A deep male voice cuts through the silence.

“We need to check the car! There’s nothing here.” A stranger male voice answers, and giggles. “We should find the girl instead.”

You tense, and grip the hammer a little tighter.

“I don’t care about her. I just want her stuff.” The deep voice asserts, and you wonder what you should do next. Storm downstairs and hammer them to death? You’ve never fought anybody before, let alone killed someone. Your hands are becoming clammy, and you don’t notice the pregnant pause in the conversation downstairs. 

It isn’t until you see a head of brown hair come into view that you’re snapped from your thoughts. Indie can’t help herself-- she barks, and bolts down the stairs before you can stop her. The two boys yell in surprise, and you watch as she tackles the tall one with brown hair. Meanwhile, the other one comes into view-- he has large, droopy eyes with spiked red hair, and he looks excited when he catches sight of you. 

“There she is!” He coos, and begins to walk upstairs. You gasp, and you know in this split second that your home is no longer yours-- you need to get away. In one fluid motion, you run into your room to grab your single bag of groceries. It’s heavy, but you don’t notice as adrenaline rushes through your veins. 

When you turn to run down the stairs, the red-head catches you by both of your upper arms. He licks his chapped lips, and your knee jerks out to hit his groin. He yelps and doubles over, and you fly down the stairs. 

“Indie!” You whistle, and she actually bounds from the living room over the couch, to skid by your side. You swipe the car keys off the counter, rip the sliding glass door open, and use the fob to unlock the car. You open the passenger for Indie, she leaps in as you toss the bag and your hammer and knife in behind her, you slam the door closed, and hop over the hood of the car. 

As you turn to open the driver’s side door, you watch as the red-head runs in slow motion from your stairs to the exit to your backyard. You don’t breathe or shake as you turn the ignition, throw the car in reverse, then drive, and plow through your flimsy backyard gate as you push your little soccer van to its limits. 

Tires skid as you swerve onto the street, and you press down so hard on the gas, that a few minutes later, you don’t register that you’re going 90 miles an hour in the suburbs. Houses pass you at incredible speed, and you ease up on the pedal when Indie licks your cheek. You stare straight ahead, and subconsciously, you drive towards your high school. Those three boys were nice to you-- they warned you, and you didn’t listen. They even tried to help you and include you, and you flat out denied them. 

You slam on the brakes as you turn into Karasuno High’s parking lot. It’s only now that you realize that you didn’t fasten your seat belt, and you shut off the car with a shaky breath. The front of the school looms over you, and you wonder for a moment if they’re even here-- was it all a joke? What if they turn you away because you were such a bitch earlier? No matter how many scenarios you run through your head, you come to the same conclusion every time: you can’t go back home, and you’re already here, so you may as well investigate. You grab your hammer and get out of the car, and Indie follows behind. You close and lock the doors, pocketing the keys, and turn towards the school you’ve known for three and a half years. 

The front gates are locked, of course. You wander the perimeter of the school, Indie trotting beside you the whole way. The school looks different in the dark-- it feels different, too. It’s like you’re walking in a dream, or some sort of in-between space. You shouldn’t be awake, and you definitely shouldn’t be here, but you are. It’s strange. Everything is bathed in moonlight, so it’s all a very specific shade of blue that makes you feel like you’re underwater. 

You come upon the gym in the back of the school, and you’re startled to hear voices coming from inside. You tip-toe up to the doors, and Indie sniffs curiously. 

“If your leg gets cut off, would it hurt?”

“Please just go to sleep.”

“Duh!” A third voice chimes in, and the second voice groans.

“How, though?” The first voice presses.

“‘Cause your leg got cut off, dumbass.”

“Where’re you gonna feel the pain?”

“In your leg…” The third voice trails off.

“Exactly, man. How’re you gonna feel the pain in your leg if--”

“--if your leg is gone?!” The first and third voice finish together, and you hear the second person groan. 

“I’m going outside.” He says, and as his voice gets louder, you stumble away from the door just as it opens. 

You blink rapidly and your jaw drops-- Akaashi stands in front of you, brows furrowed and eyes wide. You can’t believe they’re actually here.

“Akaashi?” Someone calls from inside. Akaashi opens his mouth to respond, but glances at Indie when she sniffs his hand curiously. He pets her absent-mindedly as his gaze wanders back to yours. 

Bokuto and Kuroo pop up behind him a second later, and they’re just as surprised as Akaashi. Indie sniffs them in turn, and her tail begins to wag. 

You drop your hammer with a thud, and sniffle like a toddler before letting out a sob you didn’t know you’d been holding. 

“C-can I stay with you?”


	2. Can I Crash Here?

It’s raining outside. You sit on a mattress that’s been grouped together haphazardly with a number of other mattresses in the dark, cold gym. Akaashi has been sitting next to you quietly this whole time, and you’re appreciative of the silent comfort. Indie lays at your feet, heaving a great sigh every now and then. 

When you’d shown up at the gym, you were relieved beyond words to see some familiar faces-- even though you hardly knew these boys at all, they were still alive. You remember falling to your knees and screwing your eyes shut as the grief and fear from the past few weeks came pouring out of you in shaking sobs. Akaashi had been the one to awkwardly pat your shoulder, while Indie sniffed and licked at you nervously. 

Somehow in your hysteria, you had been ushered to sit on a mattress while you sobbed into your knees. After a few minutes, you hesitantly looked up to find Akaashi next to you, and Bokuto and Kuroo kneeling in front of you with distress and hesitation-- of course they wouldn’t know what to do in this situation, as you hardly knew yourself. 

Akaashi had gently asked you what happened, but you shook your head, unwilling to think of what you had just been through. You remember when a fresh wave of panic overcame you, and you had gasped, which only worried the boys even more. 

“M-my car!” You ran your hand through your tangled hair. “I parked it outside the school-- shit, I’m sorry, I-- I didn’t even think-- oh, fuck, they’re gonna find me--”

“Hang on.” Kuroo asserted, placing a firm hand on your shoulder as he hooked you with a steely, calm gaze. You remembered how his bright eyes grounded you somehow, how they brought you back to the present. “We can drive your car over here and hide it. Here, gimme the keys. Akaashi, wait with her-- Bokuto, come with me.”

“Huh? Why do I have to come?” Bokuto exclaimed. 

“In case I run into whatever’s got her so scared, I don’t wanna be alone.” Kuroo shrugged as he stood, your car keys having somehow made it into his palm. 

“Ohhh, scared, are ya?” Bokuto teased.

“Yeah.” Kuroo said, and that definitely sobered up his spiky-haired friend as the gravity of the situation settled uncomfortably around you four. Bokuto had cleared his throat, and then he had patted your head awkwardly. 

“Don’t worry! We’ll fix everything for ya.” He had beamed at you, but you could only stare blankly back. Bokuto shifted awkwardly, then gave Indie a few pats. “Good dog! Okay, we’ll be back. Take care of her, Akaashi!”

The two boys had left about ten minutes ago, and here you were, now sitting in the spacious, cold gymnasium of your high school next to a boy you barely knew who gave you poptarts only a day before. Was it a day? It feels like weeks ago. 

You look up at the high ceiling as the rain pitter patters against it soothingly, and you can feel Akaashi’s gaze land on you at your movement. You lick your dry lips, and glance at him. 

“A-are none of them awake?” You whisper, and you’re referring, of course, to the number of other sleeping humans surrounding you and Akaashi. The sleeping lumps are unidentifiable, as far as you’re concerned-- you’re surprised there are so many people grouped together in one place. There’s some snores here and there, but no one besides you and Akaashi are awake. 

Akaashi shakes his head. “These guys can sleep through a fucking typhoon.” 

You laugh a little, and Akaashi’s chest warms up a bit. It’s nicer to see you smile instead of cry. He clears his throat. 

“So, what happened?” He asks quietly. 

You bite the inside of your cheek and glance at him. He seems to always have the same calm, apathetic expression on his handsome features, but his voice is comforting and tinged with worry. The two of you have been sitting in the quiet for some time now, and you’re sure you gave him quite a scare upon your sudden arrival, so you suppose he deserves an explanation. 

“Well, I… went home, unloaded some of my groceries.” You clear your throat. “Then, um, I tried to text my friend Callie, but it wouldn’t send, so I fell asleep. And then I woke up around 3:30 and heard some guys in my house…” Biting your lip, you remember being grabbed by the red-head, and subconsciously wrap your arms around yourself, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Akaashi. “Um, so then I ran out and drove here.”

Akaashi hums and studies you for a moment. He can tell you’re troubled, so he doesn’t want to press the subject. But he doesn’t want you to stay troubled. 

“What’s his name?” He asks, petting Indie behind her ear. 

“Indiana, Indie for short.” You smile sideways at him. “And she’s a girl.”

“My bad.” Akaashi returns your smile, glad to see you relax just a bit. “She’s trained really well.”

“Yeah, she tackled one of the guys back there.” You say proudly, but after you think about it for a second, you hope she didn’t kill him. Indie looks up at you, panting happily, and you give her a pat on the head. 

“Damn. Guess we shouldn’t mess with you, then.” Akaashi sits back, and you suddenly notice how close the two of you are sitting. Maybe it’s the extreme lack of human contact you’ve had recently, or the fact that Akaashi is insanely cute, but you feel a blush creep up your neck despite yourself. It’s also stupidly late. And you’re tired. 

You glance away from him as you hear footsteps outside the gym, and the doors open to reveal Kuroo and Bokuto, the latter twirling your car keys on his finger. 

“We have hidden your car!” Bokuto announces triumphantly, and you shush him, only to find that he hasn’t actually disturbed any of the sleeping people behind you. Akaashi was right, you think as you glance at him again. 

“Getting cozy while we were gone?” Kuroo grins, looking between you and Akaashi as the two close the doors behind them and walk up to you. You stand abruptly-- it’s the goddamn apocalypse, you don’t need a crush. Still, yet another blush creeps up your cheeks. Akaashi rolls his eyes as he stands up beside you. 

“Where did you hide it?” Akaashi asks.

“Behind a tree.” Bokuto gives you your keys back.

“I should add, we also put some leaves over your car for added security.” Kuroo says, and you nod appreciatively. 

“Just so long as you parked it near the gym, it should be out of sight from the street.” Akaashi yawns. You feel a wash of guilt at your realization that you’ve kept these guys up really late, after they’ve done who-knows-what kind of hard work during the day. Not everyone has your fucked up sleep schedule. 

“Thank you so much-- um, I’m really sorry for keeping you guys up.” You say sheepishly. 

“Don’t apologize!” Bokuto exclaims. “We were up when you got here anyways. Hey, here’s a question-- if your leg gets cut off--”

“We should get some sleep.” Kuroo cuts in. “As much as I’d love to hear her input on that topic, it can wait until the morning.” 

Bokuto sighs in resignation, but rubs his eyes tiredly. He wanders over to his mattress and flops down, burrowing himself into his pile of blankets. Kuroo stretches, then stops abruptly as he whips around to look at you. 

“Oh shit, where are you gonna sleep?” He asks you, then looks to Akaashi, who frowns. 

“Oh, I can just sleep on the floor.” You wave your hand dismissively-- you really don’t want to put them out of any comfort. 

“No.” The two boys say at once, and you’re a bit surprised at their severity. Bokuto is already snoring, much to your surprise.

“I’ll sleep on the floor-- you can sleep in my bed.” Akaashi offers, already pulling a blanket off of his mattress. 

“Please, you can sleep in _my_ bed.” Kuroo asserts, peeling off one of his own blankets. The two boys look at each other, and you could swear they were glaring.

“No!” You exclaim. “You guys already helped me enough-- plus, it’s cold as hell in here and sleeping on this cold floor is bound to make you sick, and you can’t get sick during the apocalypse-- do you know how easy it is to die from the common cold, especially when there’s no doctors around?!”

The two boys are a little taken aback by your exclamation, and so are you-- this is the most emotion you’ve shown in quite a while. You bite the inside of your cheek and frown, crossing your arms. “None of us are gonna sleep on the floor.” You assert, and Kuroo tosses his blanket back onto his bed. 

“What do you suggest, then?” He asks, crossing his arms right back.

“You could sleep with one of us.” Akaashi says quietly, like that has zero implications whatsoever. Your eyes widen, and you’re so glad it’s dark in the gym because you’re sure that your face is as red as a tomato. Kuroo snickers. 

“I’m down if you’re down.” He says teasingly, and raises his eyebrows at you.

“Up to you.” Akaashi adds quietly. Clearly, this decision is in your hands-- and you don’t want them to sleep on the floor, and you certainly don’t want to sleep on the floor yourself, and sharing a bed with one of them couldn’t possibly be that terrible, could it? 

You gulp, and glance at the floor. Kuroo is hot, you’re not gonna lie-- you’re sure he pulled all the girls in school. He also seems like he’d be really nice to curl up against, since he’s much bigger than you are. And Akaashi, he already makes you feel safe. Plus, his broad shoulders and undeniably fit body cross your mind as you imagine how it’d feel to tuck your head under his chin...

You shake your head. Even though you are touch starved, you will not make things worse for yourself by imagining how it would feel to cuddle with any of these boys. 

You clear your throat, aware of how long you’ve been silent. 

“Um, I’ll sleep with Akaashi-- if, if that’s okay.” You mumble, hoping to any higher power that they can’t sense your immense embarrassment. Akaashi nods, though you don’t miss the almost triumphant look he tosses Kuroo’s way. The latter only shrugs, flopping down on his own mattress a couple beds over. 

You bite your lip, unsure of where to look as you slip off your shoes, then begin to peel off your outer layers. Akaashi undoes his belt, and you look at him alarmingly. He looks confused for a second, then seems to realize what that might look like. 

“U-um, I’m gonna keep my pants on.” He says, and it’s the first time you’ve heard him sound nervous. You nod quickly.

“Yeah, me too.” You hate sleeping in pants, especially jeans-- usually it’s a huge tee shirt and undies for you, but you are not about to strip down to only that with a boy you’ve only just met, no matter how cute he is. You slip off your socks, then sit on the mattress with your back to Akaashi. You feel the mattress dip as he sits down too, and you take a deep breath before laying down on your side, facing away from the boy next to you. He does the same, and you can feel the warmth of his backside against yours as the two of you are just inches apart. 

The rain falls steadily above your heads, and after a moment, you feel Akaashi shift behind you, and a blanket suddenly finds itself draped over your body. You roll over onto your back just as Akaashi begins to pull away, and he shrugs. 

“You said yourself we can’t afford to be cold.”

“Thanks… You have a blanket too, right?” You whisper. Akaashi doesn’t answer, but that in itself is an indication that he doesn’t. You pause, then toss a portion of it over him, only to find it’s just a bit too small to cover the both of you.

...Unless you scoot closer together. The two of you lock eyes with that realization, and you know that he has to be blushing as much as you are. You quickly face away, and he does the same, as the two of you scoot closer together so that your backs are pressing against each other. You take a deep breath to try and calm your racing heart as the warmth from Akaashi begins to spread throughout your whole body. You feel his breaths, which even out rather quickly. He must have been really tired.

You, on the other hand, are wide awake. Your heart won’t stop racing, which is super annoying. Still, you screw your eyes shut in the hopes that you’ll at least get _some_ sleep tonight.

The rain continues falling, and eventually, you are lulled to sleep.

[-]

The first thing you register is a pleasant warmth and an even pleasanter smell. You instinctively nuzzle your face closer to it, and in response you feel whatever sensation that’s wrapped around you tighten its hold. You’re properly wrapped up, though you don’t know what’s around you or where you are. All you know is you’re extremely comfortable and happy. 

As consciousness slowly seeps in, memories trickle in one by one: running down your stairs, frantically gripping your steering wheel, wandering around your abandoned high school, dropping your hammer on the concrete outside the gym while staring at--

You furrow your brows, and your eyes flutter open against your will-- you haven’t gotten nearly enough sleep, but you can’t stop waking up as you take in your surroundings. 

Your face is currently burrowed into Akaashi’s chest, your head tucked under his chin. Your hands are actually curled into his white shirt, and as you let go of it bashfully, you find that his arms are wrapped around you-- one laid flat on the mattress beneath you, and the other resting over your waist. 

A blush once again lights up your face as Akaashi shifts in his sleep, unconsciously pulling you closer. He lets out a contented sigh, and you feel a foreign tingle spread throughout your whole body. You bite your lip-- as sunlight slowly filters into the gym, you’re sure that no one else is awake yet, otherwise you would’ve been woken up to the sound of Kuroo teasing you and Akaashi to no end. 

You can’t let the other guys see you and Akaashi like this-- you can’t handle the embarrassment. As much as you don’t want to wake Akaashi up, you have to. Biting your lip, you move to pull away from him, but almost instantly, he tightens his hold on you, and with a grunt, he rolls over onto his back, pulling you with him. You suck in a breath, trying to stay silent as you now rest on top of his chest, one of your legs between his. 

You bury your face in his chest, completely unsure of what to do. He was so exhausted last night-- you don’t want to wake him up! Just as your mind begins to race for a flawless escape strategy, Akaashi groans and rubs one eye open. 

“Mnf….” He says your name groggily, and you ignore how his gravelly voice sends tingles up your spine. 

You decide to play dumb, and turn your head to the side with a big yawn. 

“Hmm?” You answer quietly, and relax your body as much as you can. You feel Akaashi freeze in place beneath you, and he quickly removes his other hand from the small of your back. 

“U-um… you’re… on top of me…” He mumbles, and you groggily lift your head to face him, making sure to keep your eyes lidded so that you can play this off effectively. 

“Huh?” You furrow your brows as you meet Akaashi’s gaze, whose face is now bright red as the sun slowly illuminates the gym. You catch the subtle, perhaps accidental, glance he takes towards your chest, and realization hits you then. 

You’re just in your undershirt… a tank top… and your chest is pressed against his… You can imagine exactly what kind of view he had just then as you quickly roll off of him, your arms crossing over your chest quickly. 

You both stay very quiet, unsure of what to say to each other. You ignore how nice it felt to be held by him, and how much you didn’t really want to leave his embrace. God, how childish of you-- it’s just the fact that you’re starved for human interaction, that’s why you’re feeling like this. 

Somebody yawns really obnoxiously a few beds over, and you look up just as someone hurls a pillow towards the offensive yawner. 

“Can it, Shitty-kawa.” Somebody grumbles.

“I can’t even wake up without getting scolded, can I?” The yawner answers. 

The gym slowly starts to stir as the sun grows brighter through the high, square windows. You sit up at the same time as Akaashi, and you both can’t help but glance back at one another bashfully. Reaching down, you pull your flannel over your now cold shoulders, and Indie gives your hand a good morning lick. 

“Morning,” Kuroo yawns, and grins over at you and Akaashi. “Sleep well?” 

You blush, and only mutter a “good morning,” back. 

“Huh? Who’s that?” The yawner exclaimes, and you turn towards the sea of mattresses to spot a boy around your age-- also insanely cute, with somehow perfectly styled hair-- sit up and openly stare at you. “Hmm, nice one, guys. She’s pretty cute.” He grins, and you’re not quite sure how to respond to that. 

“We’re just ignoring the social distancing rule now, huh?” The guy who threw the pillow sighs and sits up to look at you, as well. You feel like a deer in the headlights, so you look for any possible way to escape this conversation. 

You shoot to your feet, and turn to Akaashi. “Where’s the bathroom?” You mumble, but Kuroo answers for him. 

“Down that hallway, to the left. No-- sorry, right. That’s where the girls bathroom is. And the plumbing still works!” Kuroo grins, and you nod quickly, turning to rush off to the bathroom. Indie follows behind you loyally, and you hear the boys begin to talk about you openly as you run off. 

“Yeah, we met her yesterday…”

“...showed up in tears…”

“...Call her cute again, see what happens, Shitty-kawa…”

You’re in the school bathroom before you know it, and you laugh wryly to yourself as the familiarity of it makes you almost feel like you’re back in school. Small groups of the dirty tiles are arranged in your school colors, and there’s still a very old flier hanging on one of the stall doors, advertising a school play that never happened. 

You rush to the sinks, and turn on the cold faucet water. You grip the sides of the sink with ferocity, and dare to look at your reflection. 

There was no way you looked cute in this moment. That guy was either extremely thirsty or a cruel liar-- your hair was matted, eyes drooped and tired. You’re sure that your dark circles never looked darker. A wave of embarrassment overcomes you at the realization that you slept next to cute Akaashi looking like _this_...

You shake yourself of those thoughts, and look at yourself with hardened resolve. You splash your face with cold water, and that wakes you up a bit. Deep breath in, deep breath out. This is only temporary, just until you can gather your thoughts, enough supplies, and enough courage to travel to Ohio alone. This is only temporary…

But it’s your life now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't ask how the plumbing still works.
> 
> don't be afraid to comment! thank u for being so patient with the update <3


	3. Decisions, Decisions...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will be getting to answering comments today!! but i wanted to post this since it took me so damn long to get up. next chapter is like half-way finished, and may or may not contain some mild smut, i'm not sure yet. lmk what you guys think!
> 
> thank you so so much for the comments and kudos! you're all really encouraging me, and i'm so glad you enjoy this fever dream o' mine. hugs and kisses from quarantine! <3

You’ve been picking at your nails for quite some time. They’re a powdery blue-- or they used to be, at least. They were supposed to match your prom dress, though you never did get to go to prom this year. The blue gown is still in your closet, covered by the plastic from the dry cleaners. You frown at the patches of missing polish, having been slowly chipped away for some time since you painted them-- was it two weeks ago? A month? You weren’t sure what time was anymore. 

“...But yeah, other than what we brought back, there wasn’t much stuff left over.” Kuroo shrugs as he picks at some granola straight from the bag. You and the group of guys have gathered in a little circle on each other’s mattresses, and have since introduced each other. Aside from Kuroo, Akaashi, and Bokuto, the new boys you’ve met are Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Kenma. The entire group seems to be weighed down with contented hopelessness-- they all appear to be very aware of their dire situation, but they’re quite alright with it at the moment. 

The boy named Iwaizumi sighs-- he’s straightforward and somewhat level-headed, as far as you can tell. 

“We’re gonna have to drive further to the next grocery store, then.” Iwaizumi decides, and rubs his neck. 

“What’s the matter? Sleep on the wrong side of the bed?” Oikawa, the absurdly pretty one, teases. 

“No, I just feel weird since it seems like none of us are gonna talk about our newest addition.” Iwaizumi says pointedly, and finally looks at you. You bite your lip and look away, not quite sure how to explain yourself, either. Why should you expect all of them to just be chill with some stranger suddenly showing up in the middle of the night, sobbing and with a potentially dangerous dog at her side? 

“She just introduced herself-- did you forget her name already?” Bokuto says with a laugh. You seriously admire his optimism-- or his cluelessness, you’re not sure which. 

“I think Iwaizumi is just suspicious of her.” Akaashi says with a level tone, and he and Iwaizumi exchange a glance. 

“Makes sense.” Oikawa shrugs.

“Wha-- How?!” Bokuto exclaims. 

“She’s a stranger. She’s got a dog with her-- a dog that could easily hurt us.” Oikawa answers, and Indie perks up when he glances at her with a smile. “But she’s so cute! I don’t think we have to worry about her.”

Akaashi glances at you, and you remember how you told him that Indie did, in fact, attack a boy last night. To be fair, he was an intruder!

“I’m not gonna be here long, if that’s what you’re worried about.” You finally pipe up, and all eyes once again fall on you.

“Huh? Why?!” Both Kuroo and Bokuto say, and you could almost swear they were whining. You laugh a little-- how could they possibly be so attached to you so quickly?

“Well, I’m trying to go to L.A. and find my friend Sami. Then, I’m gonna go to Ohio to live with my friend Callie.” You say evenly, and the entire group looks at you like you’re insane.

“L.A. is… far.” Kenma says quietly, and you’re surprised he’s spoken at all. 

“How do you even know your friend is still out there?” Kuroo asks. 

“I don’t,” You say, “but I have to at least look. It’s what she’d do for me-- or, it’s what I’d hope she’d do for me. I can’t just… accept that everyone I know and love is gone without looking first.” You become quieter at the last part, and the group seems to understand a bit better. 

“Okay,” Bokuto says, “so we just make a trip of it. We pack supplies or whatever, wake up early, and go to L.A. and look around for a couple days. We can camp out in fancy hotels!” 

“I’m sorry, _we_?” You say. 

“We’re not gonna let you go alone! Look what happened the last time we left you alone.” Bokuto says as if it’s the most obvious thing. You frown, but he is right. You’re a little scared of being left alone, too, if you’re being honest. Sleeping next to Akaashi made you feel safe, even if you were a bit flustered. Plus, these guys seem to be pretty decent-- none of them have made you uncomfortable so far. 

You eat your poptart thoughtfully. 

“Why Ohio?” Akaashi asks. 

“Well… Callie said, last time we spoke, that her parents were still around.” You respond. “Plus, she lives on a farm. That’ll be way more sustainable than scavenging around grocery stores for the rest of my life.” 

“Damn. We should do that.” Bokuto says with a sigh. 

“I don’t know how to farm,” Oikawa sighs, then turns to you with a grin. “Maybe we should just come with you to Ohio!”

“That’s… not happening.” You say decisively. 

“Aw, why not?” Kuroo croons. “Aren’t we pretty great so far? I feel like Callie would love us. Plus, I’m famous for getting people’s parents to like me.” 

“It’s true.” Bokuto says solemnly. You wonder for a moment what kind of story lies behind that exchange, but decide to leave it alone for now. 

“It’s gonna take weeks to get to Ohio-- plus, I’m probably gonna have to hop from car to car, since there aren’t any working gas stations anymore, or I’ll just have to suck it up and walk. I’m not about to go on a roadtrip with some dudes I just met-- especially not during the apocalypse.” You say, crossing your arms. Damn, it seems like everything you say makes you seem like a huge bitch-- why were you so against them coming with you, anyway? Maybe you just didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else-- or, maybe you didn’t want to invest your care into one more person, only for them to disappear without a trace, leaving you, once again, alone. 

You push that thought away-- that’s too deep for 8 a.m. 

“I wouldn’t go on a roadtrip with these guys, either.” Iwaizumi says, and you’re weirdly charmed with how pessimistic he is. His little quip dissolves some of the tension, too, and you’re glad for that.

“I think you’re scared.” Kuroo calls your bluff. You just scoff. 

“I’m not scared.”

“You were pretty scared last night, though.” Bokuto adds, unhelpfully. “But, I mean, it’s understandable-- some guys literally broke into your house!”

“Travelling in a group is safer, anyways.” Akaashi says, and you hate that a part of you agrees with him. 

You huff out a sigh, and finish off your poptart. “None of you are responsible for me.” You counter. 

“True-- but we’re not doing anything else.” Oikawa chimes in, and you’re a bit surprised. “I think it’ll be fun. We can at least go to L.A. together, and that can determine whether you wanna ‘roadtrip’ with us, or not.” 

“I like the sound of that.” Kuroo grins. “An experiment.” 

“You guys have fun with that-- I’ll stay here.” Kenma mumbles, and Kuroo barks out a laugh. 

“No way-- we’re all going.”

“I don’t wanna go, either.” Iwaizumi says, crossing his arms. “Kenma and I should stay behind and protect the gym. Clearly, it’s a little dangerous out there.” 

“Good idea!” Bokuto praises, already excited at the prospect of a roadtrip. “This is gonna be fun-- and going to L.A. will be so fast ‘cause there’s no traffic!”

“That’s assuming we find a car with a full tank-- our poor van is barely on half a tank.” Kuroo says. 

“Right, that much gas would get us there in the van, but we’d just barely be able to make it back. Plus, we aren’t accounting for how much we’ll have to drive around the city to find Sami…” Akaashi says, his train of thought travelling to the logistics of the operation. 

You’re… a little stunned, to say the least. You suppose you can chalk their enthusiasm to go to L.A. with you up to the fact that there really is nothing better for them to do, but… you never expected anyone to be this willing to stick by your side. You’d never had a large circle of friends, especially not in your relatively small town. After your closest friends had moved away, you mostly kept to yourself, perfectly content to have your only friends be the ones you’d known since forever, rather than go through the arduous task of making new ones so close to graduation. 

“You guys... don’t have to do this.” You say quietly, having reluctantly accepted that it seems like they’re going to stick by your side, regardless of what you say. 

There’s a pause that settles over the group, and Iwaizumi scoffs. 

“Like Oikawa said, we’re not doing anything else.” He says, and you smile a little at him. 

Another pause settles around the group, but it’s comfortable-- you’re starting to warm up to them, as they’ve clearly warmed up to you. You suppose you’ve given them a change of pace, at least.

“Well, all that aside, we still need to find more food.” Kenma says. “And a mattress for you-- or at least a sleeping bag.” He looks to you, then down at Indie. He offers her his hand, which she licks and nuzzles into happily. 

“Don’t you have a mattress back at your house? We can just go get that.” Bokuto says, sitting back against his bed, propping himself up with his elbows.

“I don’t really wanna go back there.” You say quickly. What if those guys were still there? What if more of them flocked to your house because they discovered all of your groceries--?

Oh, shit.

“Oh, shit.” You groan, burying your face into your palms. “My groceries.”

“Your groceries?” Bokuto echos.

“They’re all at my house. All that stuff I got from the grocery store where we met-- Indie’s food, everything.” You say as dread settles over your whole body. “What if those guys are still there?”

Everyone pauses as they consider the situation. They would all benefit from your added supplies-- plus, the trip would allow you to retrieve your bed rather than wander the floors of some abandoned Ikea or Macy’s looking for a replacement. Still, the risk was high. Those guys seemed dangerous, at least to you, and there might be more. Clearly, it wasn’t that outlandish to assume that whoever remained had grouped themselves into survival packs, and that they were willing to do anything to stay alive and fed. 

“Okay.” Kuroo stands. “So, we’ll go to your house.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” You ask.

“Me and Bokuto. Just tell us where you live, we’ll go there and get your stuff. Easy peasy.” Kuroo nods, and Bokuto is, of course, up for the challenge. 

“...I don’t want you guys to go alone.” You say.

“Relax, it’ll be a quick in and out, you won’t even notice we’re gone.” Kuroo holds his hand out, expecting you to hand him your keys. 

You stand and pull your keys out of your pocket, but hold them close to your chest as you build up the courage for what you’re about to say. 

“I’m coming with you. I’ll drive, and I’ll get my stuff.” You assert. “You guys have done way too much for me already.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Bokuto asks, worry plastered all over his face. 

You nod, even though your gut is screaming at you not to go back. But, you really don’t have any choice.

“If you’re sure, I think you guys will make it okay.” Akaashi says, ever the voice of reason. It warms your heart to know that Akaashi believes in you. “You guys take her car, and Iwaizumi and I will take the van and look for another grocery store.”

“Aw, you’re gonna leave me and Kenma all alone?” Oikawa whines. 

“I’m not excited about it, either.” Kenma mumbles, and you’re starting to love his unexpected sassiness. 

“My house is only like fifteen minutes away from here. We’ll be back in an hour, tops.” You assure Oikawa, who only looks at you skeptically. Finally, he shrugs.

“Sure, do what you want.” Oikawa says, then gets up and stretches. “I’ll just practice by myself…” He mutters, and you’re not sure what he’s referring to-- maybe volleyball, like Kuroo had mentioned when you first met. 

At the moment, you don’t really care. You turn to Kuroo and Bokuto with a feigned grin of confidence. 

“Okay, let’s do this.”

[-]

“No shit.” Kuroo smiles in recognition as you turn the final corner onto your street. “Bokuto, Asahi’s place is right over there.”

“Oh, no way!” Bokuto grins as he follows the pointed finger of Kuroo, in the direction of a house that looks very similar to yours, except with a brown roof instead of a red one. 

“One of your friends?” You ask, trying to ignore how much you’re fidgeting. You’re so nervous, and you hate it. This is your home, after all-- you shouldn’t be so terrified of returning. You glance out the window and take note of how overcast the sky has become. In the early morning, the sun was peaking through the clouds, but it has since been covered up in a thick layer of gray. Everything seems to be lacking in color.

“Yeah, he was a kickass player.” Kuroo says as you drive by the house in question. “Can we stop by there on our way back?”

“Sure.” You say tightly. Will you even make it back? What if you die??

“Hey, relax.” Kuroo says, and you glance over to him, sitting like a damn king in your passenger seat. He had to push the chair back quite a ways to account for his leg space, much to the complaint of Bokuto in the back seat. 

“I am relaxed.” You lie, and resume biting the inside of your cheek. You’re sure that your mouth is raw by now, and you’re not surprised when you taste the beginnings of the metallic tang of blood from your worrying. You puff out your cheeks to try and stop yourself from biting any further. 

Kuroo laughs at the display, and you smile back, a bit embarrassed.

In no time at all, you park by the curb in front of your house. You don’t turn the engine off just yet, opting to observe the now threatening building for a moment in case someone suddenly jumps from your door with a gun or something. A flash of red hair recalls itself from your memories, and you grip the steering wheel tighter with a big sigh. Nothing’s there-- you’re freaking out for no reason, you remind yourself.

You turn off the car and pick up your hammer that’s been resting in the cup holder. 

“You ready?” Kuroo asks, and you’ve been aware of his gaze on you this whole time. You’re glad he’s at least receptive to your hesitance, and you’re also glad that he and Bokuto are with you. They’re both pretty strong and athletic, and with your hammer combined, you three make a pretty strong team.

That’s what you have to tell yourself, anyway.

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.” You give a curt nod, and the three of you exit the car quickly, walk across your lawn, and soon you’re met with your front door. It looks like it was kicked in, with splinters of painted wood littering your porch and the hardwood floors just inside. Kuroo kicks a piece of wood aside absently, and enters first. 

“Hello?” He calls with a booming voice. 

“What are you doing?” You hiss, grabbing onto his jacket sleeve with ferocity. 

“Just seeing if we have the place to ourselves.” He replies coolly, and looks around, surveying the rest of your home. It’s definitely been ransacked-- your mother’s favorite vase is shattered, papers litter the floor, and every single drawer and cabinet has either been ripped from its hinges, or lays hanging open. 

“Seems we are.” Kuroo muses quietly after several moments of silence as the three of you take in your sad surroundings.

You can’t believe the home you grew up in has been violated like this-- you can’t believe that a person can be so heartless as to destroy something to this degree. You can’t believe the world is actually like this now. Gripping Kuroo’s sleeve tighter, you suppose that’s just what the world has come to. 

“Um… so, where did you leave your groceries?” Bokuto asks, and it’s the first time you’ve heard him being so gentle. You blink up at him only to realize how watery your eyes are, and you quickly blink away any tears that might threaten to fall. You release Kuroo’s sleeve, quickly wipe at your nose, and nod to your kitchen, just beyond the living room you stand in. 

The stairs are to your right, and you want to go upstairs to try and salvage anything else you might need, but you’re not sure if you’re ready to brave whatever situation lies above yet. 

Bokuto walks towards the kitchen. You and Kuroo follow, and your heart sinks as the three of you are met with an empty table.

The dog food is still there, though. 

“Damn it. They took everything.” Your shoulders slump, and you feel really disappointed. You’ve effectively wasted their time and valuable gas in your car just to get supplies that weren’t there. “Sorry.”

“Huh? Don’t apologize.” Kuroo says, and picks up the dog food with a grunt. “We can still get your bed and check around to see if there’s anything else. I’m gonna put this in the car.”

You three spend about an hour there in total, the sky darkening in a bizarre way-- you’d never seen the weather change this much before. In no time at all, and right when you three were ready to move your mattress to the van, it begins pouring rain. Bokuto groans, and runs his fingers through his spiked hair in frustration. 

“Maybe if we run fast enough--” You try, but Kuroo shakes his head.

“Your bed’ll get soaked. I don’t really wanna risk it, anyways.” He leans your bed on the wall beside the stairs, and flops down on your couch. “We can just wait it out.”

The rain thunders above you, and you’re almost worried your roof won’t be able to weather the storm, judging by how severely the trees are bent in the wind. You cross your arms, the chill really starting to get to you on account of your busted front door. 

“Man, do you have any blankets around here?” Bokuto whines, and you laugh. Your once cosy home offers no insulation at all, so you get up and go to the linen closet. Worried you might find empty shelves, you’re relieved to find it’s been untouched. You suppose blankets were last on those guys’ list-- but it makes you satisfied thinking they might be freezing their asses off somewhere in this unexpected weather.

You return to the couch, and the three of you huddle under the fuzzy blankets. Kuroo invites you to scoot closer to him, but you hesitate. A gust of wind thunders through your front door, and that’s all it takes to convince you to huddle closer. His arm drapes over your shoulders, reminding you once again how small you are compared to them. Bokuto joins you on your opposite side, extremely comfortable with such close contact. Your heart’s racing, because you’ve never been sandwiched between two incredibly hot guys before. You take a deep breath, and you’re glad you left Indie back at the gym, because at least she can stay somewhere that’s dry. 

It’s a few hours before the storm lets up, but as soon as the rain just barely begins to lessen, Kuroo shakes you and Bokuto from your naps. Your head was resting on his shoulder, and his head was resting on top of yours-- and as you bashfully scoot away from him, you realize just how warm he is from the sudden absence of heat.

The three of you haul your bed into the van, and decide to pile into the car and officially give up on what little else your home could offer you. After snagging a good deal of your clothes, all the soap you could find, some hair brushes and toothbrushes, you’ve got to accept that your ransacked house isn’t useful anymore. 

You park in Asahi’s driveway, and ask Kuroo why exactly he wanted to stop here, to which Kuroo laughs, a little embarrassed. 

“Well… before this all went down, I left my whole stash with Asahi because my parents were getting suspicious, and I didn’t think I could get away with hiding it in my house for a bit.” 

“Stash?” You furrow your brow, and Kuroo and Bokuto exchange a mischievous glance. It takes you a second, but since you’ve gone to public school your whole life, you understand pretty quickly. “Ohhh,” You laugh, bashful that you didn’t get it at first. 

The two boys tell you to wait in the car, so you keep the engine running while they go inside as if they owned the place. You guess they must’ve been pretty close to Asahi, considering how familiar they are with his home. 

Maybe ten or fifteen minutes pass before you’re startled by Kuroo and Bokuto booking it out of the house to tumble into your car. Kuroo whisper-yells at you to “Gogogogogo!” and you’re zooming down the flooded road once again. 

Your heart hammers in your chest, and you demand what the hell just happened. Kuroo and Bokuto laugh in that way a person does after they can’t believe they just escaped certain death, and the dark-haired boy holds up a sizeable baggie stuffed with weed with an apologetic smile. 

“Don’t freak out, but… I think we ran into your boys back there.”


	4. Fuck Outta Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's finally some ACTION y'all!! i had so much fun writing this chapter haha, reader is really finding her footing and putting an end to the bullshit!
> 
> i'm really thankful for all the comments and kudos you guys leave, it really encourages me to write! don't be afraid to say hi, i love interacting w you guys!
> 
> aaanyways, i hope you're all staying safe and taking care of yourselves. please enjoy! <3

“You huh?!”

You slam on the brakes, and Kuroo and Bokuto yell in surprise-- Bokuto didn’t put his damn seatbelt on, so his face smushes right into Kuroo’s headrest, earning you a glare from the dark-haired boy.

“I said don’t freak out! Keep driving, what are you doing?!”

You look in your rearview mirror-- the street is empty. Were they running from anyone chasing them?

“Dude, you were whispering at me when you ran out, and you guys were like, running on your little tippy-toes trying to be quiet, and nobody’s behind us right now. Were they asleep, or something?” You demand, and Bokuto gasps. 

“You’re so smart-- how did you figure that out?” Bokuto exclaims, and Kuroo just looks even more annoyed. “Oh, your groceries were there, too! Like, just chillin on the floor.”

“What? No way!” You exclaim,

“Bokuto, shuuuuut iiiit,” Kuroo groans at the same time, and upon a fierce glare from you, he pinches the bridge of his nose. 

“Yeah, they were asleep, but there’s no way in hell I’m going back in there. I get why you were scared-- one of ‘em looks like a damn school shooter, and the other one looks like a roided-out football player.” Kuroo huffs out a breath, trying and failing to get some wayward hairs out of his eye. “I’m surprised we got out alive-- I’m also surprised at how bad Asahi is at hiding weed. Did his parents just not give a shit?”

“So you were willing to _stay in there_ to look for your weed after you _knew_ they were there, after you _saw_ them, but you’re not willing to go back in for my groceries? Meaning, shit that can actually _help_ us?!” You exclaim, having fully turned in your seat to face the boy beside you. He looks at you for a moment, blinking twice to make sure he heard you correctly.

“Uh-- _yeah!_ ” He says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. You throw your hands in the air incredulously. 

“Kuroo, you _yourself_ said that food is hard to come by right now-- why would you prioritize weed over food?!”

“She’s kinda right, bro.” Bokuto says, and Kuroo rolls his eyes. 

“You guys were so down to be heroes and shit and protect me from those guys if they turned out to be in my house; where’s that energy now?” You fling the car into park, and move to open your door. 

“Woah, woah, woah!” Kuroo exclaims, and lunges across the center console to yank your door closed again. “The fuck are you doing?”

“I’m going to get my shit! I looted it, fair and square!” You shoot back, and you realize how incredibly childish you sound, and also how _close_ Kuroo is to you. He sets his jaw, and heaves a sigh. 

“[Y/n]...” He leans back, and shares a look with Bokuto, who already looks guilty. “They had guns with them.”

Your heart sinks. Well, that changes everything.

“I didn’t wanna mention your groceries, ‘cause I had a feeling this _exact_ thing would happen.” Kuroo explains, and scratches his eyebrow. “It’s not a bad thing how you’re so hell-bent on proving yourself and proving you’re not scared or whatever, but that mentality is gonna get dangerous. Like, right now, you’re really willing to storm in there and go get some-- what, some poptarts? Totinos pizza rolls?” 

“I didn’t know they had guns before.” You mumble defensively. “...and there weren’t anymore Totinos left in the store in the first place…”

“Aw, man.” Bokuto mourns under his breath at the last part of your sentence.

“Even if they didn’t have guns, you were willing to storm in there after those guys hurt you once before.” Kuroo shoots right back. 

“Well, she has us now, Kuroo.” Bokuto pipes up, and you both turn to him in surprise-- he’s been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time. “She’s right, dude, we were all down to be her bodyguards this morning, but now there’s actual danger, we’re not willing to back her up?”

“There’s always been danger, but it’s exponentially worse now.” Kuroo says, and you haven’t heard anyone use ‘exponentially’ in a sentence ever since AP Calculus. 

“If she wants to go back in there, I’m going with her.” Bokuto says, and crosses his arms to give you an encouraging smile. Your heart warms at the sight-- his smile, his encouragement, is all you need in this moment to get the courage to go back and take what’s yours. 

“Let’s go.” You say to Bokuto, who nods once, and slips out of the car. You give a pointed look to Kuroo, his handsome features unreadable. You open your door, and step one leg out, when Kuroo speaks up.

“Wait.” He says, and you turn back hesitantly, unsure of what he might say. “You’re forgetting your mighty hammer.” He holds it out to you, and you’re so irritated to find the corners of his lips twitching up. 

You swipe the hammer out of his hand, narrowing your eyes at him before slamming the door closed to stalk around the car to join Bokuto. You really weren’t expecting to get pissed off this early in the morning.

“Let’s do this!” He says loudly, and you leap to slap your hand over his mouth. 

“Shh! We don’t wanna wake them up, dipshit!!” You hiss, and Bokuto’s eyes widen. 

“Awww, fuck, I’m sorry!” He whispers as you pull your hand away. 

A car door slams closed, and you turn to see Kuroo sauntering towards you two with his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, be quiet, dipshit.” He leers, and Bokuto actually squares up. You cross your arms.

“The car’s still running, so we need someone to watch it.” You say, channelling the bitchiest ‘you-can’t-sit-with-us’ attitude you can. “Plus, I have Bokuto and my ‘mighty hammer,’ so we’ll be fine.”

“Who’s gonna steal the car?” Kuroo gestures around him, and playfully swipes Bokuto’s arm away, the latter of whom delivers two harmless jabs to his side. The two boys laugh, but you won’t forgive Kuroo that easily. “C’mon, let’s go, grumpy.” Kuroo strides past you, ruffling your already messy hair on the way. 

You have no choice but to follow behind them, and the closer you three jog to the house, the tenser you become. Steeling your nerves, you refuse to be intimidated by these guys a second time. They’re asleep, and are clearly heavy sleepers if they can’t be disturbed by the two jocks stomping around with you, so that gives you some comfort. 

They didn’t close the door behind them when they rushed out, so Kuroo just has to gently ease the door open and you three slip inside silently. It seems like this house has been untouched— they probably sought shelter here last night, since your home was basically useless in terms of keeping warmth in. Your eyes dart to the hardwood floor, and you look up to hook Bokuto with an accusatory glare. He responds silently with an expression like a hurt puppy, his face reading, ‘what? What did I do wrong??’

“You said the groceries were on the floor!” Your voice is just barely a whisper, and based on Bokuto’s continued distress, you can tell he can’t hear you. You fight back a loud sigh, and tip-toe over to him, yanking his shoulder down so that his ear is on level with your lips. You repeat yourself, and Bokuto straightens up, understanding now. 

“They’re upstairs! Next to those guys, in Asahi’s room.” He whispers back, and your heart sinks even lower. This is going to be riskier than you thought. You can practically feel Kuroo’s ‘I-told-you-so,’ hanging in the air, and upon glaring at the tall boy, it’s painted all over his face, too. You jerk your nose in the air, absolutely refusing to pussy out now. 

The three of you cautiously ascend the stairs-- they’re on the left, as opposed to the right, like in your home, and it sort of trips you out how similar but different the two houses are. At the top, Kuroo passes you and nods to the door at the end of the hallway, slightly ajar with snores emanating from the inside. You suck in a breath as you follow him, and jump a little as Bokuto grips your hand without warning. You whip around to face him, and he gives you a smile and a thumbs-up. That just warms your heart, and you feel a little bit of confidence from the exchange-- you nod to him, a brave smile pulling at your lips. 

The room itself is pretty average, just like any other high school boy’s room you knew. There’s a few volleyball posters on the walls, and clothes are still spilling out of the hamper. You’re getting less and less shocked at how everything seems to be frozen in time, since everyone just disappears without a trace, these days. 

Sure enough, there’s a handgun resting on the floor next to the red-head, and another similar one resting on the bedside table by the brunette. The sight of actual guns sitting before you is jarring, to say the least— you don’t feel particularly confident about your hammer anymore. 

The taller brunette is sound asleep on the bed, and the red-head is slumped on the floor, sitting against the desk with his head drooping down. You swear you can see a bit of drool hanging from his mouth, but your sole focus is on the three bags resting against the closet doors. 

That’s _your_ stuff-- you share a glance with Kuroo and Bokuto, take a deep breath, and cautiously tip-toe to the bags, picking them up as quietly as possible. As you straighten up, you keep your gaze trained on the red-head, and you successfully retreat outside of the room-- Kuroo and Bokuto follow behind you with bated breath, but it’s when you start to carefully descend the stairs that shit hits the fan.

In an instant, a bullet ricochets off the wall in front of you, and you duck down, effectively losing your footing to end up tumbling down the stairs. You hear Kuroo shout your name from above, but once you’re on solid ground, you spring up to your feet, and are met with Bokuto crashing into you. He barrels into you, and you tumble to the floor once again, landing on your back with Bokuto sprawled out on top of you. 

“Get-- get off me, you fuckn-- _mammoth_!” You wheeze out, and Bokuto scrambles to his feet. After scooping up your groceries (with the exception of a few wayward items spilling out in the midst of the crash), you are pulled up by Bokuto, and Kuroo swiftly passes you, a slew of “shitshitshit”s running from his mouth as he sprints out the door. 

You don’t have time to look behind you, up at the stairs where the red-head scrambles after you three, frantically cocking his gun, clearly very inexperienced in the art of shooting. Instead, you race after your even more athletic friends towards your van, which is still running and not stolen-- another thing Kuroo was right about, you think somewhere in the back of your mind. 

Speaking of, the dark-haired boy rips open the backseat door, and after he tosses his bag of groceries inside, he frantically turns back to you just as you’re sprinting up to him. 

You’re maybe two feet away when strong arms wrap around your middle, halting you in your panicked sprint, and your grocery bag tumbles out of your arms in front of you. Furious, you twist around in the grasp of whoever is holding you, only to come face-to-face with the red-head. 

“You!” You both exclaim at the same time, and the guy narrows his eyes dangerously. You don’t have the patience to find out what sort of masochistic shit he has in plan for you-- instead, you summon all of the strength and frustration that’s been building up inside of you the past few days, and deliver the strongest punch you’ve ever dealt straight into his nose. 

For some reason, you screech, “Fuck outta here!” as you deal the blow.

He yelps in surprise, and tumbles back, which gives you enough freedom to spin out of his grasp, only to be caught in Bokuto’s arms as you reach for your groceries strewn on the asphalt. 

You’re lifted off your feet, groceries still strewn on the damp street, as Bokuto hurls you into the backseat of the car, slams the door closed, and leaps over the hood of the car to slip into the driver’s seat. Kuroo isn’t in the passenger seat, you realize, and your gaze darts out your window to spot him rushing back, scooping up your groceries to toss them into the open passenger door, where they tumble onto the floor of your car. 

“Kuroo!” Both you and Bokuto yell just as the red-head recovers, his hand clasped over his now bleeding nose, blood trickling through his fingers and down his chin to stain his already filthy white shirt. The red-head raises the gun to Kuroo, who freezes in fear-- you scream, and just as you are about to shove your door back open to help, the red-head pulls the trigger, only to be met with an empty _click!_

“Fuck!” The red-head yells, and Kuroo actually _laughs_ in his face-- if that wasn’t surprising enough, he slaps the gun out of his hand before he has a chance to reload, and promptly punches him, certainly harder than you had, and your face splits-- miraculously-- into a smile. 

Kuroo turns, and dashes inside of the car-- as soon as his ass hits the seat, Bokuto slams his foot onto the gas as Kuroo hauls his door closed. 

Bullets shatter the windows in the very back a second later, and all three of you scream and duck down as glass rains down behind you. Bokuto swerves the car, but keeps speeding ahead nonetheless, and you turn around to see the tall brunette, standing proudly in the street, gun raised and smoking. It looks like a shot out of a movie, with your shattered back window as the frame that keeps zooming out. The red-head is just barely beginning to stand, and they get smaller and smaller as you drive further away-- from your home, your biggest fears, your childhood. It’s all ruined, disappearing with every house you pass, and eventually Bokuto swerves around a corner, and it’s gone forever.

[-]

The brunette slowly lowers his gun, and lets out a disappointed sigh. The rain starts up again, drizzling on the two boys left behind in the car’s exhaust.

“Tendou,” He begins in his deep voice, which so rarely gets used to deliver pleasantries. 

“I know, I know,” The red-head says, his voice blocked off slightly from his grip on his bleeding nose. “I should’ve been on watch. Sorry, Ushijima, but I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Our food is gone. Now we have to find more, and we are back in the same situation we were in three days ago.” Ushijima says evenly, and Tendou can hardly believe this is the same man that’s been starving with him for the past few days. He’s still so calm and collected-- well, he is a natural-born leader, he supposes. 

“Relax. We can find them again, and take all our shit back. I’m sure they have a cute little hiding place somewhere with even more food for us. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Tendou assures, smiling his same unsettling smile he’s had since elementary school. Ushijima isn’t put off by it, though-- he never is. 

He stays unbothered as he shakes his head. 

“No. I’m tired of chasing after them. Let’s look around these houses, and then we’ll look for more grocery stores.” Ushijima says decisively, and picks up Tendou’s gun to hand over to him nicely. “You need to remember to keep this loaded, especially right now when there’s crazy people after us.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tendou begrudgingly takes the gun from his friend with a sigh. “Not my fault I didn’t grow up knowing how to shoot a target from miles away.”

“I can only shoot a target with extreme accuracy when it’s about ten or maybe even twenty feet away.” Ushijima responds, confused as to why Tendou would give him so much credit when it comes to shooting. He pauses, then asks, “Are you alright?”

Tendou blinks, a little surprised at Ushijima’s sudden caring tone. “Yeah, I just need a towel or something-- it should stop bleeding soon.”

Ushijima nods, and pats him on the shoulder. “Let’s find some bandages, and then we’ll look for food.”

Tendou nods as he follows Ushijima back inside the house.

“Kyotani’s gonna be pissed…” He mutters under his breath.

[-]

“Ho-holy shit!” Bokuto yells, swerving around another corner without letting up on the gas. 

“I know!!” You exclaim as you sway in your seat, the adrenaline just now beginning to ebb away. Your hands are shaking, but you’ve never felt more empowered. “I literally punched a guy in the face!!” You laugh, and pinch your cheeks to make sure this is real. 

Kuroo laughs with you, wiping sweat off his brow, and turns around to look at you with that grin of his.

“‘Fuck outta here’? When did you become an action hero?” He teases, and you giggle, tossing your hair over your shoulder playfully. 

“I guess I’m just _that_ bitch.” You declare, and Bokuto laughs boisterously from the front seat. 

The rest of the ride goes smoothly as the three of you shake out the rest of your jitters from earlier. It turns out, this is the safest and most at ease you’ve felt since the quarantine started two months ago-- Kuroo and Bokuto are some of the nicest guys you’ve ever met. You sort of can’t believe your luck; if you hadn’t run into them at the grocery store, who knows where you’d be right now? 

A dopey, happy smile stays on your features the whole rest of the way back to the gym. Even though it’s started raining again, you feel on top of the world as you gaze at your two newfound friends in the front seat. 

“I know I’m sexy, but you don’t gotta keep staring.” Kuroo pulls you out of your little daydream with his teasing, and you roll your eyes, but don’t stop smiling. 

“Thanks, you guys. Seriously.” You say sincerely. Bokuto looks into the rearview mirror to give you another one of his heart-melting smiles. 

“Ehh, don’t mention it.” Kuroo rubs the back of his neck as Bokuto turns onto a dirt road you don’t recognize. 

“Uhhh… Bokuto? Where ya goin, bud?” You ask.

“Shortcut!” Bokuto declares proudly. “This side street cuts through all that traffic on the main streets.”

“Nice!” Kuroo praises, then snickers. “Except there’s no traffic right now, dude.”

“Oh.” Bokuto blinks, and blushes. “Sorry, um… force of habit?”

It actually tears your heart in two just seeing Bokuto even slightly deflated, so you leap to comfort him. 

“No, don’t worry!” You lean forward, wrapping your arms over his shoulder to hug him from behind. “It’s the scenic route!” 

Bokuto blushes even deeper, but his spirits are definitely lifted as he presses on. Trees drape over the unfamiliar road, and you pass by lots of beautiful shrubs and grassy areas which have only grown larger since the huge absence of people. You sit up quickly as a blue Toyota comes into view-- you’d recognize that stupid Death Star foam antenna tip anywhere. As Bokuto drives closer and closer, you have no doubt in your mind that that’s your father’s car just up ahead, the front completely crashed into a large oak tree. 

“Stop! Stop,” You exclaim, but don’t wait for Bokuto to do as he’s told as you rush out of the car. Luckily, he was already slowing down as you tumble out, much to the displeasure of the boys inside the car. 

You don’t quite feel your legs as dread and worry settles over you the closer you walk to the car. Had your dad been killed in a crash? Was he injured, and didn’t have the strength to call for help, and _then_ died when you didn’t come looking for him? You cover your mouth as you feel tears prick your eyes as all sorts of terrible thoughts and scenarios overwhelm your brain, but when you finally reach the driver’s seat, you’re met with nothing. 

There’s no blood stains, only a now-deflated airbag, and you notice that the seatbelt is still clicked into place. A chill goes up your spine-- it’s as if your dad just… disappeared. 

“Yo, what’s going on?” Kuroo’s voice coming up behind you snaps you out of your little trance, and you turn to Kuroo and Bokuto in distress. They frown at your expression, and you can’t help the sniffle that escapes you.

“This is, um… this is my dad’s car.” You say, and your voice is so small. Kuroo and Bokuto exchange a glance, unsure of what to say. You don’t expect them to have any words of comfort, anyway-- you’ve all lost those closest to you, so you’re all familiar with this feeling but… seeing your dad’s car, how it’s crashed in such a peculiar way with zero trace of your dad ever being there… it hurts so much more when you don’t even have a body to bury, or ashes to hold onto. 

You bite your lip, and open the driver’s side door to flip the sun visor down, revealing a picture of you, your dad, and your mom on vacation, clipped in place next to the mirror. With a sad smile, you gingerly take the photo, and run your fingers over the faces of your mom and dad. 

A warm hand rests on your shoulder, and you look up with teary eyes to meet Bokuto’s bright ones. He’s smiling, if only to comfort you. 

“Let’s go.” He says gently, and you suck in a breath, and nod. The three of you pile back into the car, and you tuck the picture into your jacket’s inside pocket, placing your hand over it just to make sure it’s safe as Bokuto continues the drive back to the gym.


	5. It's Loud in Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLOO!! omg i'm so sorry this took so long. i'm finishing up summer school right now, and my work has been scheduling me hella hours, so i haven't had a lot of time/energy to write lately. HOWEVER, i hope i've made it up to you with this long ass chapter!!
> 
> please enjoy, and thank you so much for reading!

When the three of you make it back and hide your car in the same place as before, the gym is empty, except for an excited Indie, who comes bounding up to greet you, Bokuto, and Kuroo with kisses and a wagging tail. You’re a little alarmed at the lack of Kenma and Oikawa, but Kuroo and Bokuto aren’t too worried. 

“Kenma’s probably wandering around the school, he does that sometimes. And Oikawa… eh, I dunno, he probably bothered Iwaizumi enough to hitch along with him and Akaashi.” Kuroo explains, and flops down on his bed. “We can move all your stuff in here after a quick nap.” He declares, and you’re in agreement with him-- you desperately need to shower, so you retrieve your toiletries from the car, and head off to the girls’ locker room. 

Unfortunately, the water doesn’t get warm at all, but you can’t find it within yourself to care at the moment. You watch as the water cascades down your sore body-- you’ve been manhandled way too much today, and you can already feel the bruises forming around your ribs where that creepy red-head grabbed you. Squirting shampoo into your hair, you furiously scrub at your scalp in an attempt to clean yourself of all the shit you just went through this morning. 

The image of your dad’s car won’t leave your mind-- it’s like you see it right in front of you every time you blink, a constant image in the back of your mind that you know you won’t be able to shake. How could someone just disappear like that? And why was it only the adults? Callie had said that her sister disappeared, but her sister was at least thirty…

Your head hurts, but you can’t stop thinking about it. Is there a way to reverse whatever happened? Is there an age limit as far as who disappears? Is it aliens?

You laugh a little to yourself at that thought. While you run the conditioner through your hair, you brush it out, too, and you sigh in absolute happiness as you wash your body with your usual soap from home. It’s pretty nice taking a shower in these dreary locker rooms, since nobody else is here to bother you. 

Having washed hair and a washed body truly makes you feel like a new person, and you sigh happily after drying off and slipping on fresh, warm clothes. You even pull on your fuzzy socks, and as you pad back into the gym, you’re met with Kuroo and Bokuto, passed out on their respective beds, and you chuckle to yourself, opting to take a nap on Akaashi’s bed for the time being. 

You’re not sure what time it is when you wake up, but Kenma has since returned, as you’re woken up by the sound of pages turning. You sit up, rubbing at your eyes, to find Kenma sitting on his bed, munching on some chips while he reads the book in his lap. He looks up at you, blinks in greeting, and goes back to reading. 

“Um… hey,” You say awkwardly, as Bokuto and Kuroo are still very much asleep. Kenma looks up at you again, and you feel sort of scrutinized under his intense, calculating gaze. 

“Hey,” He responds, and again, goes back to reading. 

You frown-- you don’t want to bother him, so you decide to get the rest of your shit from your car. Bokuto and Kuroo have done enough heavy lifting for today, you decide, as you exit the gym to retrieve your groceries, bed, and all the other supplies you packed. 

Kenma’s gaze follows you occasionally on your multiple trips to and from the gym. You pretend not to notice, because you have no idea if you should talk to him or just ignore him-- he seems to only really like Kuroo, and “like” is a strong word for him.

You huff as you stand in front of your open trunk, your mattress resting on top of two of the folded down backseats. Hands on your hips, you narrow your eyes as you work out the logistics of hauling this thing inside-- it’s just a twin bed, really not that heavy, and the gym is literally like five feet away. But with a sigh, you look down at your feet, battered shoes covered in mud and grass-- it hasn’t completely stopped raining all day, though it’s only drizzling right now. You know that if you try to drag your mattress inside by yourself, you won’t be able to hold it completely off the ground, so one side will get all muddy and gross.

You bite the inside of your cheek-- it’s probably better to wait for Kuroo and Bokuto to wake up. They’ll be glad to do manual labor for you, and you’ll be glad to let them show off or whatever. It’s a win-win!

You reach up to close the trunk when Kenma’s voice pipes up behind you.

“Need help?”

You turn in surprise, eyes wide. Did he just talk to you? And, offer you help?

Kenma leans against the open gym door, arms crossed, same expression as always. “You’re letting in all the cold air from outside.”

Oh. He just wanted you to hurry up, not actually help you because he was feeling nice. You laugh a little to yourself, and nod at him with a smile. 

“Yeah, that’d be great, actually.”

The two of you haul your bed inside with little trouble-- Kenma’s actually stronger than he looks! When it flops to the floor between Kuroo’s and Akaashi’s beds, the dark-haired boy finally stirs awake. His head was sandwiched between two pillows, you realize, and snort out a laugh.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” You tease, and Kuroo just grumbles in response, still not completely awake as he squints up at you and Kenma.

“You moved your bed in here?” Kuroo mumbles, rubbing at his eyes.

You nod, and gesture to Kenma. “Yeah, Kenma helped me.”

“Really?” Kuroo huffs out a laugh. “Dang Kenma, are you actually warming up to someone?”

“She was letting cold air in ‘cause she was taking so long.” Kenma rolls his eyes, and flops back on his own bed to continue to read. 

“Thank you, Kenma,” You say sweetly, and lay on your bed with a happy sigh, wrapping yourself up in the blankets you brought from home. 

“Man, I miss waffles.” You complain aloud, seemingly out of nowhere. Your thought process to lead you to that statement was: raining -> warm, lazy mornings -> mornings = breakfast -> breakfast = waffles, but waffles = not here anymore because toasters don’t work anymore. Maybe you could roast one over a fire? But all the frozen ones are probably weird now because they’ve been thawing out for days on end. 

Kuroo laughs beside you. “Like, Eggos?”

“Yeah,” You sigh wistfully. 

“I miss Crunchwrap Supremes.” Kuroo says, and it’s your turn to laugh. 

“I miss Baja Blast.” You agree with a sigh. 

Kuroo groans, and you meet his gaze with a grin. “Man, don’t torture me like that.” 

“Maybe we can raid a Taco Bell? Baja Blast doesn’t expire, right?” You say, and Kuroo nods thoughtfully as he tucks his hands behind his head. 

“If we’re gonna preserve one thing from the remnants of society, it better be fuckn’ Baja Blast.” Kuroo says, and you crack up at that. 

“Yeah, fuck the pyramids or whatever--” You say,

“Dude, _fuck_ the pyramids!” Kuroo interjects, and you laugh even more. 

“-- _fuck_ the pyramids, for real!” You smack your first into your palm. “All my homies hate the pyramids.”

“Society has advanced past the need for pyramids.” Kenma says from his place on his bed. You and Kuroo’s eyes light up, and you both sit up to hook Kenma with gleeful expressions, elated that he’s joining in on the fun. Kenma looks up from his book, and smiles a little as you and Kuroo laugh along with the joke. 

Your rambunctious laughter wakes up Bokuto, who sits up with a start, even though his eyes are still squinty as he slowly regains consciousness. 

“Baja Blast…?” He mumbles, and you and Kuroo can’t help but crack up even more at Bokuto’s delayed response-- even Kenma laughs, and as the rain falls heavier outside, the four of you go around naming all the things you miss from before the world ended. Video games, heaters, washing machines, all kinds of fast food, TV shows you’ll never know the ending to, movies that will never be released-- it’s all a little sad, but it’s fun to reminisce with the three guys as they crack jokes and raid your grocery haul for snacks. 

“Awww, man, remember those things at like, huge malls where you could go in and fake sky-dive?” Bokuto says, and you and Kenma exchange a glance of wild confusion.

“No??” You say, and Kuroo and Bokuto exclaim in surprise. 

“What?! You never went on one of those things?” Bokuto is astonished, but so are you, because you have no idea what he’s talking about. 

“How does that even work?” Kenma wonders, and glares at Kuroo as the latter steals some chips from him with a grin. 

“You go into this like, giant cylinder--” Kuroo starts, but Bokuto cuts in as he leaps to his feet. 

“Yeah, and there’s this grate floor, and a giant fan underneath you, and you wear like, goggles and shit, and then they turn on the fan and you just get fuckn’ blasted in the air for like five minutes.” Bokuto howls with laughter, “I remember one time, me and Akaashi tried it, and holy shit-- his face--!” Bokuto can’t continue, he’s laughing so hard. 

You all three join in, because Bokuto’s joy is contagious, and you can kind of picture the situation-- the prospect of seeing Akaashi as anything but calm and collected is hilarious to you. 

The sun begins to set, and you’re roped into a game of toss-the-volleyball with Kuroo and Bokuto, while Kenma watches on in mild amusement. 

“Check this out!” Bokuto yells as Kuroo tosses the ball up. The gray-haired boy grins wide, eyes fixated on the ball, and he leaps, only to hit the ball over an imaginary net to send it careening to the polished wood floor with a loud _SMACK!_

“Woah!” You exclaim, eyes wide as Bokuto’s chest puffs with pride. 

“ _That_ is called a ‘spike’.” He says, hands on his hips. 

You raise your eyebrows, deciding to humor him. “No waaay, tell me more!”

“Okay!” Bokuto excitedly retrieves the ball, and tosses it back to Kuroo. “Send me another one!”

“Man, I’m not a setter.” Kuroo huffs, sending a quick glare to Kenma as he tosses the ball up to Bokuto once again, who leaps up, and powerfully hits the ball so that it flies parallel to where the net would have been, and another loud _SMACK!_ fills the gym.

“Hey, hey, hey!!” Bokuto exclaims proudly as he lands on the floor.

“Dang!” You exclaim, actually very impressed with that move. “How’d you do that?!”

“Ahh, there’s no explaining talent.” Bokuto laughs, “I’m just kiddin’! Basically, I just jump up and hit the ball like, _bam!_ Instead of, _wham!_ You know?” He nods, hands on his hips, and you share a quick glance with Kuroo, who just shakes his head with a smile. 

“That’s kickass.” You concede, and Bokuto seems to glow with your praise. 

“Hey, maybe we can show you--” 

“Yoho~!” 

Bokuto is cut off by a cheery Oikawa pushing the gym doors open, a dazzling smile on his handsome face like always. As Oikawa enters, he pulls his hood off of his head-- how is his hair still perfect?!-- and a soaked Akaashi and Iwaizumi follow, carrying about five bags total. 

“Welcome back!” You say, inwardly relieved to see their safe return. You didn’t want to admit it earlier, but you were growing more worried with every hour that passed and they didn’t show up. 

The three guys set down the bags in the designated “stuff” corner of the gym, and you, Kuroo, and Bokuto walk up to meet them there, with Kenma trailing behind. 

“Well, we found some pretty useful shit this time.” Iwaizumi says proudly, and fishes around in one of the bags for a moment before procuring some walkie-talkies. 

“Walkie-talkies?” You and Bokuto exclaim at the same time. 

“Radios?” Kuroo corrects, and you and Bokuto roll your eyes. 

“Yes to both.” Akaashi says as he helps Iwaizumi hand them out. 

“This way, we can communicate easier when we go searching in L.A.” Iwaizumi says as he hands you yours. 

“Oh? Are you coming with us now?” You say with a grin. 

You don’t miss the quick blush that dusts Iwaizumi’s cheeks as he quickly looks away with a frown. “Oikawa begged me to.” He explains.

“Um? No, I _convinced_ you.” Oikawa defends himself. 

“Whatever. Point is, after what happened to you, it makes sense that we should all stick together. Splitting up is a bad idea, especially since… y’know, people are still disappearing.” Iwaizumi says, and a solemnity passes over the group. 

Oikawa clears his throat. “Here, I got this for you.” He hands you a bag of cotton balls and nail polish remover. Your eyes widen-- you looked everywhere in the grocery store for this stuff, but couldn’t find it a few days ago. 

“T-thank you!” You say as you take the items from Oikawa. He gives you a dazzling smile in response, which brings a blush to your cheeks, having all his attention on you.

“Your nails were looking pretty bad this morning, I noticed you picking at them-- so I figured this would help!” He explains, to which Iwaizumi punches him in the arm. “Ow! Hey, I’m just being honest!”

“Gee, thanks.” You deadpan, your appreciation now replaced with irritation. You decide to shrug it off, though-- this shows that his heart was in the right place, at least.

“We haven’t even shown you guys the best thing,” Oikawa recovers pretty quickly, and reaches into his own bag, to reveal a plethora of Four-Lokos and White Claws. “It’s time to get fucked up. It’s the least we deserve.”

“Dude!” Kuroo exclaims, and fishes around in his pocket to pull out his hefty sum of weed, to which Oikawa’s eyes light up. The two boys grin at each other, and shake hands warmly at their shared train of thought.

[-]

The boys lead you to a barren spot behind the gym outside, where a fire pit has been set up. You’re surprised at how quickly Kuroo and Iwaizumi can get a fire started, considering it’s still cold as hell, even though the rain has stopped for now. Pretty soon, they’re warming a kettle of water over the crackling flame, and you and Kenma are sitting side-by-side underneath one of your blankets on the chairs you brought outside, while the rest of the guys huddle around the fire in their own chairs. 

Instant ramen is passed out, and soon, your hands are warmed by the boiling water heating up your styrofoam cup of noodles. You blow on it gently, and soon, all of you are wolfing down the most delicious instant noodles you’ve ever eaten in your life. 

After dinner, the fire is put out, and you all retreat back inside the gym just as the rain begins to pick up again. 

“Aight, I don’t have too much paper, so we’re just gonna pass it around, is that cool?” Kuroo asks as you all settle on the floor, sitting on your respective pillows in a circle. He’s already preparing the joint, packing it so it’s a little thicker than what you’ve seen in the movies. After expertly rolling it up, he licks the edge of the paper, and seals it before lighting it. He takes a drag, and exhales happily as Oikawa, sitting next to him, cracks open a Four Loko. You’ve decided to go with a White Claw for now, since you’re a bit of a lightweight on account of your inexperience.

Kuroo passes the joint to Oikawa first, who passes it to Iwaizumi, then Kenma, then Akaashi, and then you. You frown, and laugh a little as you sheepishly ask, “Um, how do I do it?”

Bokuto laughs beside you, and gently takes it from you. “You just breathe in, hold it for a second, and then breathe out.” He shows you, and coughs a little at first, waving away the smoke. “Here, try!”

You nod with a smile, and do as he says: wrap your lips around the blunt, breathe in, hold it--

You almost cough up a lung on step two. The boys around you laugh, not making fun of you, just amused at your naivete. 

“Try again, try again.” Oikawa encourages, and you do, and actually manage to do a successful hit. You’re still coughing a little, your eyes watering, but you’re having fun. 

You take a sip, and the blunt is passed around once again. 

“So, you got all your stuff back, I see!” Oikawa says as he takes another hit. “What happened there?”

“Shit was insane, dude.” Kuroo shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair. 

“Yeah, those assholes that scared her before were hiding out in Asahi’s house!” Bokuto says, “They had guns, man!”

“What?” Iwaizumi exclaims right as he’s about to take a drag. 

“Yeah, it was insane!” You chime in after taking a few more sips of your drink. “That red-head grabbed me right as I was about to run back into the car, but then I punched him!” You say proudly, and hold up your bruised knuckles as proof.

“Yeah, and you know what she said when she did it?” Kuroo laughs, “She goes, ‘Fuck outta here!’”

The entire group is impressed and joins in on your laughter, and you just blush with a shrug. 

“What can I say? I’m a badass.” You toss your hair over your shoulder.

“Yeah, you are.” Kuroo affirms warmly, and you share a smile with him for a moment before Akaashi hands you the blunt. 

“He was a redhead?” Kenma pipes up, and you nod as you exhale. The musky smell of weed is starting to stink up the whole gym, but you don’t really care. You’ve only taken two hits, but you’re already feeling warm and tingly-- your mind is a little fuzzy, and paired with your drink, you’re generally just feeling amazing. 

Kenma must’ve said something, because he’s looking at you expectantly. 

“Hm? Sorry.” You say and sit up straighter.

“I said, he sounds like a kid from my history class. I think his name’s Tendou?” Kenma repeats, and glances at Kuroo, who just shrugs. 

“I don’t know a lot of juniors.” He says, taking another glug of his drink. 

Kenma just hums thoughtfully, and takes a hit before passing it back to Kuroo. 

“Okay.” Oikawa says with a grin, and turns to hook you with his chocolate brown gaze. “So, how come we’ve never seen you before? You went to Karasuno, right?”

“Yeah,” You laugh sheepishly, and are surprised to find you’ve already finished your drink. “I wasn’t really part of any clubs or anything. I mean, I went to Yearbook Club every once in a while, ‘cause I liked to take pictures.” 

“You ever go to any volleyball games?” Oikawa asks.

“No,” You say with a big sigh. “Don’t hate me!”

“Ugh!” Oikawa exclaims in disgust. “That’s it, get her out of here.” 

You laugh along with the others, and decide to play along with the bit. “Alright, bet.” You say, and rise to your feet, but immediately stumble back down, right into Bokuto’s surprised lap. 

“Woah--hey, hey, hey!” Bokuto exclaims, his voice jumping a few octaves as he flings his arms above him to avoid touching you in any disrespectful way. 

You dissolve into a pile of giggles, and reach up to snatch the blunt from Bokuto’s hand, taking another drag before leaning back to look upside down at Kenma, passing it to him, who grins down at you. 

“Did your boyfriend disappear, too?” Oikawa asks out of nowhere, and you look over in time to see Iwaizumi smack Oikawa’s arm. “Ow! Come on, we were all curious!”

You just huff out a laugh, and sit up with a bit of trouble, leaving behind a furiously blushing Bokuto. 

“I didn’t have a boyfriend. Never really have, ‘cause I don’t count elementary school.” You answer with a shrug, and glance at Kuroo, only to find him staring at you intently. You raise an eyebrow, exuding confidence as you smirk at him. “What?”

Kuroo just blinks, and shrugs as he takes the blunt from Kenma. “Nothin.” He says, and takes a drag, finally breaking eye contact with you. 

The blunt is passed around-- you’ve lost count by now-- and Kenma suddenly stands, his eyes shining with excitement.

“I almost forgot-- I found something really cool today in one of the classrooms.” He says, and stumbles over to his bed to reach into his backpack, and pulls out an actual boom box. 

“Wooaaahhh!” Kuroo and Bokuto say at the same time as Kenma brings it over. 

“There’s even some cassette tapes for it,” Kenma says, and puts the boom box in the middle of the group, then pulls out some cassettes from his jacket pocket to view the options. You lean over to Kenma, across Bokuto’s lap-- which makes him blush again-- and you’re pleasantly surprised by the options. 

“Dude, they have Black Sabbath?” You exclaim. “Where did you even find this?”

“Mr. Little’s classroom.” Kenma answers, and grins when he finds a specific tape. “Got it. Check this out.” He inserts the tape, and presses play. 

After a second, ‘hot girl bummer’ by blackbear starts playing, much to everyone’s surprise. 

“What the-- how did that get on a cassette?” Oikawa exclaims, and Kenma grins. 

“I made this tape for Mr. Little earlier this year to prove to him that newer music is pretty good-- but he said he’d only listen to it if it was on a cassette. So, I made a cassette tape with a lot of modern songs on it.” He explains, looking down at the boom box with a smile, like it’s his little baby-- his creation that has managed to survive past the end of the world.

“Kenma!!” You coo, pouting your lip out as you look at him with so much unfiltered adoration. “This is so cool! And this is so exciting! Thank you so much!!” Tears actually well up in your eyes, and Bokuto quickly hurries to wipe them away with his thumb. 

“Oh, God!! Oh, no! Why are you crying?!” He exclaims, cradling your face in his hands to bring your gaze up to his. 

“I’m just--” You sniffle. “I’m really happy, and like, I’ve just had such a shitty day-- or like, life, lately. And, like--” You sniffle again, and wipe away some snot with your sleeve as you turn to look at the group of cross-faded guys around you, who all look extremely worried at your sudden cry-fest. “It’s just… I care so much about you guys, and we barely know each other! But, like… I don’t know, you guys have just taken care of me, and you’ve been so nice, and I just… I’m just really happy!” You babble, and in an instant, Bokuto wraps you up in a bone-crushing hug. 

“We care about you too!” Bokuto affirms, and then suddenly hauls you up to your feet, still hugging you fiercely. He spins you around with a flourish, and you’re extremely disoriented, but happy nonetheless. “Let’s dance!” He says, and grabs your hands, and starts swaying around in a really dumb way. 

You laugh, but join in anyways-- and soon, the entire group is dancing like idiots. The entire experience is a bit of a haze, as your head has grown fuzzier, your limbs heavier, and your heart lighter. You feel so at ease with yourself, like you could say or do anything, and you wouldn’t have any regrets. You really should’ve smoked weed a lot earlier in life if it made you feel this good. 

The songs that are on Kenma’s playlist are really good, and really fun to dance to-- you think for a moment that this experience is even better than prom, apocalypse included. You don’t quite feel your feet as you stumble and dance around, but pretty soon, you feel a really strong urge to pee. Two-- or was it three?-- White Claws seem to have gone right through you, so you mumble something about needing to use the bathroom and that you’ll be right back to Iwaizumi. Or maybe it was Akaashi.

In no time at all, you’re relieved and washing your hands at the sink. Being in the school bathroom with the lights off is once again a strange experience-- especially since you’re very high and pretty drunk. This moment sort of feels like a liminal space-- a save point in a video game, so that you can collect your fuzzy thoughts, only to watch them float down the drain with the water that’s running over your hands. You’re not sure how long you watch the faucet run, but you’re amazed at what you’re seeing-- indoor plumbing really is the most underrated thing about society. 

“Man, _fuck_ the pyramids!” You laugh to yourself as you remember your jokes with Kuroo earlier. Man, he really is cute. All of them are-- you’re really the luckiest girl in the end of the world. You finally turn off the faucet, and float out of the bathroom, out to the dark hallway that leads back to the gym. 

You’re surprised to find Kuroo leaning on a wall, hands in his pockets. He looks up when he catches sight of you, and smiles sweetly. He doesn’t grin, or smirk like usual-- he looks like a young boy right now, and you can’t help but smile back. 

“Hi,” You say, surprised at your quiet voice and how it seems to cut through the silence of the hallway loudly. The sound of music is still coming from the gym, but this hallway still feels very removed from reality, like a little pocket that only you and Kuroo exist in. 

“Hey,” He says, and licks his chapped lips as he looks away, and rubs the back of his neck. “Um, sorry, just wanted to check on you ‘cause you were taking a while.”

“Ohhh,” You say, and smile sheepishly. “I was just… watching the water.”

“Cool.” Kuroo nods, and you both stare at each other for a moment. Kuroo’s eyes are a little glazed, a little red, and you’re sure you look the same. He swallows, and you watch as his Adam’s apple bobs with the motion. “Um, I wanted to apologize.”

“Huh? For what?” You’re surprised, to say the least. He helped you out so much today-- he actually risked his life for you (and your groceries). 

“For doubting you.” He says, and shoves his hands in his pockets even further. “Earlier, when I didn’t tell you your groceries were in Asahi’s house. I didn’t tell you ‘cause I didn’t think you could pull off getting them back. And, like… I dunno, that wasn’t cool of me. So, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. And, that, uh…” He shrugs, and finally glances at you. “I believe in you.”

You’re struck dumb as your mouth drops open in surprise-- you’re not sure what to say. Even if you were sober, this would surprise you. You quickly close your mouth, and realize you need to say _something_ , because you don’t want Kuroo to feel weird, or like you hate him. 

But, you can’t think of anything to say at the moment-- so, you follow your feet as you walk up to him, and proceed to wrap your arms around his middle, resting your head against his broad, warm chest. 

“Thank you, Kuroo.” You say, and squeeze him a little tighter when his arms wrap around you after a moment. He rests his chin on the crown of your head, and laughs out a sigh of relief. You two stay like that for a while-- you could fall asleep standing up, with how at peace you feel right now. Your high, combined with Kuroo’s warmth, and how safe you feel bundled up in his arms, makes the world melt away. With a happy sigh, you pull away a little bit to look up at him with a dumb, happy smile. He looks down at you, just as dumb, and just as happy. “Hey, I believe in you, too. Even though you piss me off sometimes.” 

You feel the rumble of Kuroo’s laugh from his chest, and you lean your cheek into his hand as he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. 

“I’m always gonna piss you off.” He mumbles, and you roll your eyes with a grin. You watch as he licks his lips again-- it’s a subconscious thing to do, a normal tick that anyone and everyone does, but for some reason, watching Kuroo do it right now, it’s the most captivating thing for you. Your gaze slowly travels from his lips to his bright, hazel eyes, only to find that he’s been gazing at you just as long as you’ve been gazing at him. He takes a deep, shaky breath, and seems to have a stream of conflicting thoughts go through his head, but you’re very sure of yourself as you reach up, and cradle his face between your hands. You gently rub your thumb back and forth over his cheek-- he feels so warm, and it’s only then that you notice that he’s blushing. One of your hands travels further, into his dark hair, which you’re surprised to find, is extremely soft. 

You giggle then, which surprises Kuroo, and you bite your lip as you try to hold back your laughter. “Your hair’s always so messy.” 

Kuroo huffs out a laugh, and rolls his eyes. “Gimme a break, it’s the end of the world.” 

Your smile just grows wider, and you can’t help but stare at him-- something about this moment makes you feel so vulnerable, but so incredibly safe. You wonder if Kuroo feels the same-- and he’d never tell you, but he does (just because it’s you). 

Kuroo gently reaches up to grab your wrist, and pull it from his hair. Your hand drifts from his grasp, to trail your fingers along the lines of his palm-- you watch your fingers gently ghost over his skin, and he watches, too, completely engrossed in your movements. Somehow, his fingers ghost over your own, and travel to your bruised knuckles. His fingers ghost over the blue and purple skin, a frown pulling the corners of his mouth down as his eyebrows knit together the longer he stares at your bruised hand. You lazily intertwine your fingers with his, and look back up at him as he looks back to you. You’re both holding your breaths-- for the first time, Kuroo looks nervous. Is it nervousness? Anticipation? His eyes flit to your lips when your tongue darts out to lick them, and then back to your eyes. 

You’re both leaning in to each other, subconsciously or intentionally, you’re not sure which-- but you know that you’re super okay with it. Your eyelids flutter when you feel Kuroo’s breath fan over your lips, and you feel Kuroo’s grip tighten around your waist, which sends sparks of excitement coursing through your body, and you feel electric and buzzed, and you flutter your eyes closed as the two of you move closer. Your nose brushes his, and he inhales sharply at the contact, and you feel his thumb rub up and down against your back, and he presses you against him, closer, closer, and your heart is thundering in your ears and all throughout your body, and--

Just like that, it’s all gone. Kuroo takes a step back, blushing furiously just like you, and you’re surprised and really cold from his absence. 

“U-uhm…” He runs a hand through his hair, and clears his throat as he looks away. “Sorry. Uh-- yeah. Sorry.” He mumbles, and quickly turns away to walk to the opposite end of the hallway to disappear into the boys’ bathroom.

You’re left standing there, lips parted, heart hammering, the cold slowly seeping back into your bones, and as Everybody Talks by Neon Trees starts to play in the gym, you slowly begin to feel the sharp sting of rejection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright.
> 
> don't hate me.
> 
> if you saw me simping for Kuroo on main, no you didn't ❤️
> 
> also should i make Kenma's mixtape?? i have so many ideas for this end of the world playlist. let me know if you guys would be interested in that! 
> 
> don't be afraid to comment, and thank you again for reading! <3


	6. Exodus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lovely readers!! first off, thank you all SO SO MUCH for your comments and kudos and just taking the time to read my story! i made kenma's playlist from the last chapter, and for the record, i feel like kenma would listen to like 100 gecs and a lot more other diverse music, but this playlist is just supposed to be a lil taste of modern music for him to introduce to his teacher. here it is on spotify (titled kenma's mixtape, my username is 'Shanna Done'): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1WIBmmHjUkv2CKtnJIuy7o?si=CCOYPNK2RbaeMfMYEpgvgQ  
> and here it is on youtube if you don't have spotify!  
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWM88_X_Nf9VPNXm9IUDq0ffhRMOo9s9x
> 
> i have finished summer school and am starting my last semester of college and online learning is really! hard! for my brain!! but lucky for you guys, i somehow focus better on writing fanfic when i should be focusing on my lectures hehe! i'm gonna try and consistently update every month, and reach at least 5k words per chapter! i really wanna push myself so that i can give y'all the best story possible <3
> 
> so this chapter is like,, a lot happens. i hope it doesn't feel rushed, but i had a lot of fun writing this! please enjoy, and thank you for reading!
> 
> POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of dead bodies (especially the smell), description of dead bodies. This mostly occurs towards the end, so proceed with caution if you're sensitive to that!

When you wake up, the sun has risen long ago-- unfortunately, the rain has cleared from yesterday, and sharp, painful rays of sunlight filter through the top windows of the gym. One of the beams of sunlight shines right onto your bed, and you groan, covering your head under your pillows and blankets. It gives you a little bit of reprieve-- still, your head pounds and you feel nauseous. Your mouth is incredibly dry, you notice, as you attempt to lick your chapped lips. 

A powerful wave of nausea courses through you, and your hand flies up to cover your mouth as you tear the blankets away to sit up, and instinctively lunge for the little trash can that’s right next to your bed. 

After you’ve emptied your guts into the plastic bin, you rest your forehead against the edge of it as you take deep, shaky breaths. A few memories of the night before manage to reach your conscious mind: really good music, you braiding Kenma’s hair because he’d passed out, at one point you feel like you saw Oikawa and Iwaizumi slow dancing together?

You lurch into the trash can again, and you remember Akaashi holding your hair back the night before in a similar situation-- but, you were in the girl’s bathroom at that point. Or was it the boy’s bathroom? Was it outside? You suppose he moved this in here for you, just in case you got sick again. 

Kuroo groans as he shifts in his sleep, and a fresh wave of embarrassment washes over you. You furrow your brows as you vividly remember what happened the night before. Why didn’t he kiss you? He seemed to be just as into it as you were-- you should’ve trusted your gut when you assumed he was a fuckboy upon your first impression of him. But, he had been so kind and supportive of you-- he even apologized to you for something you never even thought about. Clearly, he’s considerate and thoughtful; but, still, he didn’t kiss you. He had been blushing really hard, too-- you have no idea what to think or how to feel about it. You decide to think about it later, as you wipe some spit away from your bottom lip with a heavy sigh. Hopefully, Kuroo just doesn’t remember what happened and you can just suffer rejection in peace.

A soft, warm hand gently grasps your shoulder, and you blearily turn to see Akaashi, leaning over you with a worried expression. 

“You okay?” He asks quietly, and gently brushes a strand of hair off of your sweaty forehead. 

You’re not really okay, but you just give him a tight smile and nod. “Just feel like shit.” Your voice is really hoarse, and it hurts a little to talk.

Akaashi smiles sympathetically. “I can help you over to the bathrooms if you want to take a shower.”

Your eyes widen at the thought-- it sounds like the best thing in the world. You nod, and Akaashi wraps your arm around his shoulders as he gently pulls you up. You lean into him as his other arm wraps securely around your waist, and your head lolls to the side as you hobble towards the bathrooms. Somewhere behind you, you hear another person groan-- is that Oikawa?-- and retch right after, and you look at Akaashi in alarm; he just rolls his eyes.

“I put trash cans by everyone’s bed.” He explains, and you smile at that. 

The small journey takes so much energy out of you, but soon enough, you’re sitting under a stream of cold water. Akaashi had hesitantly offered to help you out of some of your clothes, but you waved him away with a smile and said it was okay, and he smiled-- a little relieved-- and left with a blush. 

After a while, you’ve recovered enough to stand up and wash yourself-- eventually, you’re out of the shower and dressed in some sweats that Akaashi must’ve put on the counter during your shower. You smile a little, and immediately brush your teeth and gargle with mouthwash at least three times. 

When you hobble back into the gym, everyone is awake, just barely alive. You try not to look at Kuroo as you ease yourself onto your bed to wrap yourself up in some blankets. Akaashi tosses a water bottle onto your bed, and you pathetically reach down to sip on the heavenly substance in order to feel a little less like a zombie. Indie joins you on the bed, curling up by your side to try and provide you a little comfort. You weakly pat her, appreciative of the company.

The whole day is quiet, and you sleep through most of it. Everyone is mostly focused on not spilling anymore of their guts, and you’re glad for the lack of excitement today-- plus, you don’t have to face Kuroo right now, which is definitely a plus. 

The next day, everyone is much better. Things are pretty much back to normal-- except, you and Kuroo still try to avoid each other. You can feel Kenma’s eyes on you a lot more often now, probably wondering why things are suddenly weird between you and his best friend. You just ignore it as best you can, and instead focus on helping Iwaizumi figure out how to siphon gas from one car to another. 

After pilfering through both of the cars at your disposal, you find a car manual in one of them, but it offers no help for you and Iwaizumi. In the late afternoon, Bokuto joins you, and attempts to help with your problem-solving.

“What if you just like, slurped it up?” He offers, and you can’t help but laugh while Iwaizumi frowns, irritated at his friend. 

“I’m not tryna die from gas fumes.” He says curtly, and Bokuto thinks harder.

“I mean, you can suck without breathing in.” Bokuto reasons.

 _“What?”_ Oikawa asks, appearing in the doorway of the gym. 

“No, he’s right!” You say, as realization suddenly dawns on you. In you brain, you figured you could just suck up the gas and then exhale the fumes to slowly pull the gas up through the straw-- kind of like when you would stick a straw in a drink, cover the top with your finger, then pull the straw out and suck out the liquid from the bottom. 

“Again, _what??_ ” Oikawa emphasizes as he joins the three of you by the van. 

“Like a straw!” You say, and whirl around in sudden search for a shit ton of plastic straws. “We can tape some straws together--”

“Mega-Straw!” Bokuto declares with a puff of his chest as he joins you in your search.

“Or just use a hose?” Kuroo snickers from the doorway, and you stiffen at his presence, unsure if you should acknowledge him or not. 

“Yes!” Bokuto exclaims, and rushes around the back of the gym, only to run back with a long green hose in his hand. “Let’s cut this bad boy off and try!” 

You have nothing to lose, you suppose, and take the hose from Bokuto’s hands to give him your knife. He hurries to the other end of the hose to cut it off, but Iwaizumi rips it from your hands with a frown. 

“No way am I letting you do this.” He says. “I’ll try. I kinda get what you’re saying.” Iwaizumi asserts gruffly, and you’re about to argue that you can do it, but decide against it when Bokuto rejoins the group. 

Iwaizumi opens the gas tank of your own van, and brings over the red gas container to rest it by his feet before he threads one end of the hose into the gas tank. When it won’t go in any further, he huffs a quick breath before pressing his mouth against it. He sucks in, and pulls away, quickly covering his hand over the hose’s opening to exhale the fumes. Iwaizumi repeats the motion, and after a while, you take a step forward worriedly. 

“Here, I can do it for a bit.” You offer, but Iwaizumi shakes his head. 

“Nah, it’s all good. Almost there.” He huffs, and goes back to work. You frown, and exchange a look with Oikawa. Right as Oikawa’s about to speak up, Iwaizumi pulls away with a splutter as gas suddenly spews from the hose. He grabs the gas container, quickly shoving the hose inside of it, and you all watch in amazement as gas flows freely from the tank, into the container. 

“Holy shit!! Good job, Iwaizumi!” You exclaim, and he smiles, obviously relieved. 

“Glad that worked. Means we can do it to other cars on the way to L.A., if we need to.” He nods. 

Solving that problem definitely lifts a strain off of the group-- you now have a reliable way to get around and keep the car running. By taking the gas from your van, the boys’ white van is filled all the way up, and you all begin sorting through the items you’ll be able to take along with you on the road. The white van is pretty large, and has a good amount of storage and room for the seven of you to travel comfortably.

The group assumes it won’t be a good idea to return to the gym from L.A.-- instead, you all agree to go straight from L.A. to Ohio. Over the next few days, you, Oikawa and Iwaizumi sort through a good number of stores to find maps, while Kuroo, Akaashi, Bokuto, and Kenma find sleeping bags and non-perishable foods for the coming journey. 

In no time at all, everything’s prepared-- you’re surprised how efficiently you and the guys were able to work. 

The night before you’re all set to leave, you take a moment to sit on the grass with Indie outside of the gym. The moon is full, and now that the power is out, it’s easy to see a good amount of stars up above-- way more than you’ve ever seen before. Now that the weather’s starting to warm up a bit, it feels nice to sit outside in the cool evening air with your dog-- it reminds you of all of your past summers. If this were last year, you would be getting ready to meet up with your friends in Big Bear for a weekend of hiking at Sami’s parents lodge. If you close your eyes, you can smell the bug spray and sunscreen that accompanied all of your previous summers. You can almost smell the change in weather as you breathe in. You feel nostalgic and a little sad for a time you’ll never experience again-- every once in a while, the reality of your situation consumes you and contributes to a lot of your sleepless nights. 

You scratch Indie’s head, and rest your chin against your knees, which are pulled up to your chest. It’s really bizarre how your life has turned out-- you never expected to lose both your parents within the span of a week, and you definitely never expected to witness the actual fall of human society in less than a month. As you stare at the wide expanse of grass that leads to the football field and track a little ways ahead, you wonder what the rest of your life will look like. How long will you live? What will the quality of life be like for you, and everyone around you? Just making it to Ohio won’t solve all of your problems-- what will you do after that, and for the rest of your life?

With a sigh, you bury your head into your hands. You always overthink too much.

“Hey.”

You glance behind you, and are surprised to find Kuroo walking up to you. This is the first time you’ve been alone with him in days-- or, has it been a week already? The memory of that night is still extremely vivid to you, so it still stings a bit to see him approaching you so casually, as if nothing happened. If he really can’t remember what happened, you suppose you can’t blame him-- but still. You can and will blame him.

You don’t say anything as Kuroo sits beside you, and leans back on his hands to look up at the sky. You even go so far as to pointedly look away from him, which doesn’t go unnoticed by him. He raises an eyebrow, and plucks up a fistful of grass next to him, only to then sprinkle it on top of your head, to which you gasp and quickly shake off, much to the amusement of the boy beside you.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” He asks now that he has your attention, and you’re surprised by how quickly he cut to the chase. You glance at each other, and you just nod in response. Kuroo shifts to face you a little better, his expression serious. 

“Listen, about that night,” He starts, “I need to explain.”

“Yeah, you do.” You can’t help the bitterness that seeps through your words, and you curse yourself a little at the fact that you broke your promise to yourself that you’d be super aloof and chill about this whole situation. 

Kuroo can’t help but grin a little, which pisses you off. Why does he find this funny?!

“Yeah, I do.” He concedes, and rubs the back of his neck. “Long story short, I wanted to kiss you. But, I stopped myself because we were really drunk, and _really_ high. I didn’t want to-- I dunno, take advantage of you.” He shrugs, and glances away from you. 

His blunt explanation doesn’t surprise you at this point. Kuroo’s proved himself to be frank and honest with everything he says, and in this moment, you’re really grateful that he’s laid everything out on the table-- at least you know for certain that he _did_ want to kiss you. Your heart warms a little at his confession. You can see his point, and it makes a lot more sense, now that you consider his thought process. 

“Plus--” Kuroo begins, but stops himself, conflicted.

“What?” You press gently, hands fisted in the grass beside you. Kuroo frowns, and you both glance down to your hands as Kuroo inches his closer to yours. His pinky brushes yours, and your breath hitches as you both move, slowly allowing your fingers to intertwine with each others, and you find that you really love the sight of your hand clasped with his larger, calloused one. 

“Plus, I…” Kuroo starts, and tentatively glances up to meet your gaze. You’re holding your breath, heart racing at the anticipation of what else he might say. He takes a breath, about to continue, when Bokuto’s voice startles the both of you as it erupts from the gym.

“AGHAASHIII!” He yells, and proceeds to go on about something having to do with the supplies for your trip, which completely dissolves the tension that had built between you and Kuroo. You both laugh nervously, but neither of you moves to take your hand away from the other.

“Uhm…” Kuroo just laughs a little in defeat, and squeezes your hand. “We should go inside.”

You nod, a little disappointed now that you’ve been pulled back to reality. Before Kuroo’s hand leaves yours, you squeeze it back with a reassuring smile.

As the both of you get to your feet, Indie trots ahead of you to enter the gym, but you pause, and Kuroo glances back at you questioningly. 

“What were you gonna say?” You ask quietly. “You can’t just leave me hangin’ like that.” You joke, attempting to ease Kuroo’s nerves from just a few moments before. 

“Eeehh…” He shrugs, and rubs the back of his head with a huff, looking anywhere but at you. “It’s dumb, forget about it.” 

“Aww, come on!” You tease, feeling much more comfortable now that Kuroo’s relaxed a bit-- but you still really want to know what he was going to tell you. You follow after him as he makes his way back to the gym, and just to pester him more, you poke him in the side. He grins, and grabs your wrist before you can pull it away, and you laugh as he pulls you against his chest, wrapping his arm around your lower back to smirk down at you teasingly. You keep a confident, mischievous smile on your face, but you know your cheeks are now bright red and your heart picks up pace again as his breath fans over your cheek. 

“Alright, I was gonna say…” He leans down, his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear, and you hold back a shiver at the sensation. “You still have so much grass in your hair, it’s disgusting.”

“Kurroooo!” You whine as he releases you and you push him away playfully, to which he ruffles your hair obnoxiously. 

“Here, lemme help you out!” He cackles, rubbing at your head furiously, which completely messes up your hair. You swipe at his arm, and he deftly avoids your swings as you chase him back into the gym.

[-]

Everything is packed, and the gym is fully empty except for your collection of mattresses, laid bare on the shiny wood floor. Morning sun seeps through the high windows, and you watch the dust float along in the light for a moment as you say good-bye to your make-shift home. You only stayed here for a little over two weeks, but it does make you feel sad to leave it all behind.

The guys all feel the same, though they don’t say it, choosing to instead busy themselves with tying up any loose ends before your departure. 

The seven of you pile into the van-- Iwaizumi chose to drive-- and soon enough, you’re on the road. 

“We should avoid as many major routes as we can.” Kenma pipes up from his place beside you. Iwaizumi looks at him from the rearview mirror, confused. 

“Why’s that?” He asks.

“There might be people on those roads. Or car accidents we won’t be able to get around.” Kenma explains. “From what we’ve seen, I feel like it’s a good idea to avoid as many people as possible.” 

After a moment, Iwaizumi shrugs, conceding that Kenma has a “fair point.”

Oikawa is the navigator up front, and the ride to L.A. is fairly quiet as you all contemplate the idea of moving into new territory under these circumstances. Kenma’s comment causes you all to think through this situation a little more cautiously-- L.A. is a big city, so there’s no way that _everyone_ disappeared. There have to be other people-- probably people around your age-- that have banded together, much like the seven of you have. The fight for food and resources may be even more intense than it has been in your little pocket of suburbia, and your group doesn’t have much in the way of weapons-- two baseball bats, your knife and hammer, and a crowbar is all that makes up your little arsenal. 

Pretty soon, Kenma falls asleep, slumped against your shoulder, letting out little snores now and then. As the ride goes on, you glance back to find that Akaashi is in a similar position to you, with Bokuto passed out next to him-- Kuroo’s head is slumped forward, arms crossed while he slumbers away, too. You and Akaashi smile at each other, grateful for the peace-- you feel like parents on a road trip. 

You pass through countless neighborhoods littered with ransacked or untouched homes-- a few of them even burned down, probably from ovens or other appliances being left on from when people just disappeared. There’s also hundreds of car crashes, some with bodies, and some without. These all probably came about from people disappearing while driving-- the same fate that befell your father. You can’t make out specifically what each corpse looks like, but they all look like they’re smaller than adults. It sends a chill down your spine. 

Finally, you arrive in L.A.-- it took a little longer, even without any traffic, since Iwaizumi managed to stick to side streets the whole way there. Almost all of the homes have been looted from what you can tell, and you notice that a few apartments are crumbling, singed from fires. The store fronts you pass have all been looted, as evidenced by broken windows and the lack of any inventory in those stores. News from around the rest of the state, let alone the rest of the world, was never able to reach you since your power outages were so severe. Still, you aren’t surprised that L.A. descended into chaos when people started disappearing-- uneasiness washes over you at the thought of Sami dealing with such a dangerous situation.

You’re able to direct Iwaizumi to Sami’s neighborhood, since you’ve visited it many times in the past, and soon, you’re parked in front of her apartment complex. 

The street is lined with trees, and the sun dapples the pavement in a familiar, comforting way-- you’ve had countless weekends with Sami here-- you guys would ride your bikes around these neighborhoods, sometimes even making it as far as the shopping areas on Burbank Blvd; sometimes, you two would wander into Universal Studios but never actually enter the park because it was so expensive. You wonder for a moment if you could convince the guys to take a detour through the abandoned amusement park-- Bokuto would definitely be down.

But, where there was once pristine lawns and cute windowsills, there are now broken windows, singed patches of grass, and even more trash littering the streets than was normal, even in North Hollywood.

“I feel like we’re a little exposed.” Iwaizumi mutters, glancing around as he turns the engine off, and his comment pulls you from your thoughts. Sami’s neighborhood isn’t the same as it was before, just like your home-- it’s different and dangerous, now unfamiliar to you. Still, you need to investigate as much as you can to try and find your friend; it’s what she’d do for you.

“I can just go in alone, it’ll be fine.” You say, but of course, the boys shoot you down.

“Absolutely not.” Oikawa says.  
“Nope.” Kuroo asserts.  
“Hell, no!” Bokuto exclaims.

“Alright, alright!” You throw your arms up, exasperated. “But I still feel like it’s a good idea to only send in like two people to look while the rest of you guys watch the car. There’s valuable stuff in here, so we should defend it, right?”

The boys reluctantly mutter their agreement, and Akaashi is the one to unbuckle his seatbelt first. 

“I’ll go with you.” He offers, and you smile gratefully. 

“Me, too!” Kuroo and Bokuto say at the same time, and you laugh a little at that. 

“I’ll be fine just with Akaashi, no worries.” You say, but Oikawa unbuckles his seatbelt, too.

“I’ll go with, too. I kind of have a bad feeling about this.” He says, and his tone is so different from how he normally sounds, so you don’t argue. The group agrees on the separation, but Iwaizumi says he’ll keep the car running just in case you need to make a quick getaway. 

There’s an ominous feeling in your gut that’s only grown since you arrived as the three of you get out of the van and step foot on the street. You swallow down your nerves as you lead the two guys into the apartment complex. It’s quiet-- you feel like it’s even quieter than your neighborhood; or, maybe, you’re just imagining it. 

Everything looks desaturated-- inside the complex, everything is trashed, papers strewn on the floor, computers and TVs smashed in or missing. The further inside you travel, you find there’s dried muddy boot prints leading from the back entrance of the complex up the only available flight of stairs. 

As the three of you climb the stairs, you notice the walls have dents and scrapes on them, as well as what looks like splatters of dried blood. You pause at the landing, gripping your hammer a little tighter in your hand as you stare at the bloody spot, and when you look down, there’s even more footprints scuffed into the carpet-- they’re scattered and messy, so you figure there must’ve been a fight or something here. 

You glance back at Akaashi and Oikawa with a deep breath, only to see your own fear reflected on their faces, too. Oikawa shakes it off, and offers you a reassuring smile. 

“Does she live on this floor?” He asks, his voice back to the pleasant airiness it always has. You snap out of it, and nod, forcing one foot in front of another as you focus only on what is immediately in front of you. There’s a rotten stench permeating the entire complex, probably from rotting food.

“It stinks.” You comment, holding your sleeve up to your nose.

“Yeah, I guess the looters left behind everything that was perishable.” Oikawa agrees.

“Yeah, that or--” Akaashi starts, but quickly silences himself. After a moment, you raise your eyebrow at him.

“Or what?” You prompt.

He sighs. “Or… whoever was left over.” He’s intentionally vague, but you get the point, and a chill runs down your spine. Clearly, there was a bloody struggle here, so it makes sense there might be bodies discarded in the empty apartments-- your gut twists uncomfortably at the thought that with every door you pass, you could also be passing corpses and not even realize it. 

In a few more steps, you arrive in front of Sami’s door. It’s been kicked in, much like all the other doors you’ve passed on the way here, so you gently push inside, to be met with a completely trashed living room. No dead bodies, at least.

There’s no blood in here, only a mess from whoever came looting before. The refrigerator door hangs open, the pantry and cabinets have all been looted, leaving behind only a few scraps and expired food. Flies cover the kitchen on account of all the rotting fruit that litters the table.

Akaashi calls your name from behind you, and you turn to see him standing in front of the refrigerator. He closes the door and gestures to a post-it note taped to the silver surface, and you join him to read it. 

_‘Me and mom went to the store. Be back soon!’_

“That’s Sami’s handwriting.” You say, heart beating faster at the prospect of finding any kind of trace of your friend, and you take the post-it note like it’s the most precious thing in the world.

“I think it’s safe to assume she isn’t here.” Oikawa says. “Do you know what grocery store she would’ve gone to? Maybe retracing her steps will help us find her.”

“Yeah, or more clues, or something.” You agree, hopes now soaring. “She and her mom loved Trader Joe’s-- the one a few blocks down the street from here is probably the one they went to.”

The three of you hurry out, and the previously haunting atmosphere is slightly lifted because you feel like you might actually find Sami-- and you know what her mom’s car looks like, so you can use that to find her if she went off on her own.

You’ve never ran down stairs so fast before, Oikawa and Akaashi trailing behind you, grateful to be leaving this disturbing scene with some sort of a lead. The three of you pile into the car, and though Iwaizumi says nothing, you can tell he’s relieved to see you all make it back safely-- they all are.

“We found something-- looks like we’re headed to Trader Joe’s.” Oikawa reports.

“It’s like three blocks away-- look for a blue Prius around there.” You tell them excitedly as you fasten your seatbelt.. “That’s the car she’d probably be in-- like, if we don’t find her there, she’s probably driving around in it.”

You’re almost giddy as you direct Iwaizumi to the Trader Joe’s on the corner, and the whole group seems to relax a little at your happy demeanor; except Oikawa. He’s unusually quiet, with a contemplative frown the whole ride there. Indie licks your face and wags her tail, excited to finally get out of the car.

You pretty much jump out of the van as soon as Iwaizumi pulls up to the curb, but as you rush around the corner to the parking lot, you don’t see Sami’s mom’s car anywhere. You aren’t deterred, though-- you glance around, and wander a little ways away to see if you can spot the car as the boys slowly exit the van behind you to join in on the search. 

“Oi, turn on your radio!” Iwaizumi calls after you, and you pause, fishing the radio out of your backpack to turn it on. 

“What channel?” Kuroo asks as he and Kenma turn theirs on.

“Channel 1.” Iwaizumi confirms. “You guys check in the store. Ima follow you.” He says, jogging to catch up with you on the sidewalk across from the van. Indie licks his hand in greeting, and wags her tail as Oikawa follows behind his friend.

“Sounds good.” You nod. “Be careful, okay, guys?” You call across the street. 

“Let’s have a code word for if something goes wrong!” Bokuto yells. 

“Blue!” You offer, and you laugh a little when you see Kenma face-palm in irritation. 

“Okay!! And if we find something, let’s meet back here, okay?” Bokuto calls. 

“Okay, now shut up! We’re not trying to attract attention!” Iwaizumi snaps, and Bokuto just laughs as he enters the Trader Joe’s with Kenma, Akaashi, and Kuroo. You, Iawizumi, and Oikawa turn in the other direction to walk down the street-- you’re free to wander off the sidewalks since there’s no cars around, except for the occasional one crashed into a store or a telephone pole. 

“Hey, I never really asked you guys about your families.” You comment, and kick a stone to skid across the asphalt so that Indie can chase after it. 

“What about them?” Iwaizumi asks gruffly. 

“I mean, like… what happened to make you guys all stick together?” You ask, and give the two boys a sympathetic look. “You all know what happened to me-- I feel selfish for never, like, trying to understand your situations.” 

Iwaizumi and Oikawa exchange glances, and you think for a second that you shouldn’t have said anything. But, Iwaizumi just adjusts his backpack with a shrug. 

“For me, my parents just never came home from work. I guess they both disappeared at the same time. Took me a few days before I went over to Oikawa’s to ask for help. He was the same as me, all alone, and we decided to go to the school because we thought there would be someone there who could help us, or something. That’s where we met Akaashi and Bokuto.” He says, straight to the point. You can tell that he’s uncomfortable describing what happened, and you suspect he might be leaving out some details, but that might just be because he isn’t ready to share everything with you yet. You can respect that, you suppose, so you wander over to him and give him a side-hug. 

“Well, I’m glad you guys decided to go to the gym so that I could meet you.” You say, and Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, though you can see him blushing. 

“Ugh, you guys smell that? It stinks.” Iwaizumi complains, and you sniff the air, wrinkling your nose in response. Something definitely smells-- it reminds you of the apartment complex. You shake it off; thinking about rotting foods and rotting bodies isn’t going to help you find Sami.

“So, it was the same with you, Oikawa?” You continue, letting go of Iwaizumi to skip up to Oikawa. He’s looking down the street to the right, seemingly zoned out because he doesn’t respond.

“You good?” You ask, but your breath hitches when you join him, and see what he’s been staring at: a blue Prius, crashed into a store front. Time sort of stops as both hope and dread settles in your gut-- it’s possible evidence of Sami, but anyone can have a blue Prius in L.A., right? You need to check to see if that ugly pink fuzzy dice is hanging from the rearview mirror to make sure it’s Sami’s mom’s. Without thinking, you jog towards the wreck.

“Wait, you don’t know what you’ll find there--” Oikawa starts, reaching out to gently stop you by grabbing your arm, but you avoid it to keep going.

Your pulse thunders in your ears as you approach the car, and your steps slow to a stop as you’re about to reach the driver’s window. It’s rolled down, because Sami loved to get the fresh air from outside-- _as if there’s fresh air in L.A.,_ you would always tease her. With a shaky breath, you lean down to look inside the car, and there’s that ugly pink dice.

The driver’s side is empty-- just like your dad’s, the seatbelt is still buckled and there isn’t a sign that anything was ever there. Your gaze drifts over to the passenger seat, and you choke on a gasp as you stumble away, tripping over your feet to fall on the pavement with a heavy thud. Inside the car, still buckled in safely, is Sami. Her body-- her legs are crushed under the dashboard. The airbag has long-since inflated, then deflated. She’s bent forward, completely relaxed, with her head turned away from you at a sickening angle. Her skin doesn’t look like skin-- it’s grey, purple almost, or a little green--

You lurch forward and retch your guts up onto the sidewalk in front of you. And you were right about the smell, because it’s even stronger over here, and now you know for certain what it is. Rotted flesh: Sami, rotting away in the car.

You don’t blink as you start to cry, and instead stare blankly ahead as tears stream down your face. Someone’s hand touches your shoulder, then rubs your back, and they say something, but you don’t register it at all. You look down, to find your hands are shaking violently. Somebody calls your name from miles away-- you glance towards the voice, confused, to be met with Oikawa, crouched beside you as he rubs your back. It’s the only thing that grounds you to this plane of reality, and you sit in the backseat of your mind as you watch yourself bury your face in his chest, gripping his shirt so tight you might rip it. 

He embraces you without a second thought, and as sobs wrack your body with violent shakes, you wonder why it’s Sami in there, and not you.

[-]

Iwaizumi’s feet are rooted to the asphalt as Oikawa rushes over to you-- he knows what you must’ve found based on your reaction, and he wants to go over and help, but he has no idea what to do. He doesn’t really know where to put his hands as Oikawa shushes you and rubs your back while ugly sobs shake your trembling frame. He’s not sure why, but it twists his heart seeing you like that.

He’s seen others cry like that before-- he’s cried like that before, though he’d never admit to it. 

Iwaizumi takes a hesitant step forward to try and help, but his radio crackles to life as Bokuto’s panicked voice shouts through the speakers.

“BLUE!! WE GOT A CODE BLUE, GET TO THE TRADER JOE’S!!” 

Iwaizumi curses under his breath, but he’s finally able to jump into action. He rushes over to you and Oikawa, says, “C’mon, we gotta go,” but your legs don’t seem to be much good as the two boys haul you to your feet. On trembling legs, they pull you forward until you’re sprinting, gasping through your lingering sobs as you and the two boys rush back around the corner, down the block and across the street to the Trader Joe’s. 

Iwaizumi skids to a halt at the sight before him across the street: Bokuto and Kuroo poised threateningly on the sidewalk, the latter with the crowbar and the former with a baseball bat, because Kenma and Akaashi are currently being held with guns to their heads. Two men, one with a tuft of blonde hair and a shaved undercut, the other with a mess of dark curls and dangerous green eyes, hold Akaashi and Kenma by the collars of their jackets while they point the barrels of their guns to their temples. They’re in the middle of the street, so it doesn’t take long for the two gunmen to notice newcomers.

The older guy holding Akaashi hooks his green gaze on you, Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and tightens his grip on the gun threateningly, which causes Akaashi to suck in a breath. 

“This doesn’t have to be hard.” He says, and his voice is so calm it’s terrifying. “Just do what I say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick shoutout to one of my readers SenjuMizusaya, when u commented on chapter 4 you mentioned how we're lucky no houses caught on fire because of stoves left on or something, and that got me thinking! i really liked that idea, so i put that lil detail in here, so i hope you don't mind!!
> 
> i know things got a lil dark and ~serious~ in this chapter and i really gave reader some trauma, but it's important to remember that everyone we've met has literally lost their loved ones, so in the coming chapters we are def gonna be exploring that a lot more. but there will still be jokes and humor and romance!! i just think it's also important to acknowledge the serious, sad stuff sometimes. it's like life. idk why i'm being philosophical LOL
> 
> thanks again for reading! please don't be afraid to comment, everything you guys say just warms my heart and i love talking to y'all! stay safe out there, put on a face mask, watch some haikyuu, just treat yourself bc you! deserve! it!!
> 
> alright i'm gonna sign off lmfao damn i had a lot to say. love u guys!! <3


	7. Shots Fired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lovely readers!! i technically kept my promise to upload once a month, since we are STILL in october! even though it's literally ending next week. like how the hell did that happen?? october was like two seconds long and it's my fave month! i'm determined to have fun on halloween with me, myself, and i, so i hope you guys are able to find some joy in my favorite holiday, too! personally, i plan to watch a lot of scary movies and get very, very drunk.
> 
> ANYWAYS, sorry for the late upload!! this chapter is like. a LOT happens, and i included the very end section as like a lil dessert for you guys-- like i know it isn't entirely necessary, but idgaf cuz i had fun writing it!
> 
> also-- quick note, but reader does experience a panic attack this chapter. i wrote it from my own experiences, and i know that anxiety manifests very differently in people, so i'm sorry if my description pulls you out of the narrative a little bit! just wanted to include a little warning here in case anyone wants to avoid reading that kind of stuff-- if you press Ctrl+F in your browser, type in " {*} " and skip to the third one, so that you can avoid reading the panic attack if you want.
> 
> thanks so much for reading, please enjoy!

_“I can’t wait to get the fuck outta here.” Sami sighed as she shut off the news. These days, it was all bad news and angry people, so you had gone out to visit her for the weekend. You both needed a break._

_“Things are kinda bad everywhere, just like they’re kinda good everywhere.” You hummed while Sami surfed through the channels. “But if I’m gonna be angry about society, I wanna be angry while I’m living in a cool city, at least.”_

_“Exactly!” Sami laughed, that same loud laugh that turned heads in restaurants. “I’m literally counting down the days until graduation. If I never make it to New York, you can go ahead and just kill me.”_

[-]

“We should look for poptarts!” Bokuto says excitedly as the four boys enter the Trader Joe’s. Kuroo watches you walk off with Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and briefly wishes he went with you. He quickly shakes it off, and laughs as his friend excitedly goes off in search of the treats for you. “Man, this place is huge-- it’s like the Mega Trader Joe’s.”

“This is the final boss of Trader Joe’s.” Kuroo joins in as he browses what little is left on the shelves. This store looks like all the others they’ve looted the past few weeks-- dark with the exception of a few spots of sunlight bleeding through what little windows the store has, dirty floors, barren shelves, and just a general feeling of despair that seems to follow the group no matter how hard they try to keep in good spirits. 

“Ugh, everything stinks now.” Kenma wrinkles his nose at the stench of rotting food that fills the entire store. The smell mostly comes from the freezer aisle, so the boys try to avoid that area as much as possible. Kenma and Kuroo venture down one aisle while Akaashi and Bokuto go down a different one. 

“Sami! Heellooo?” Bokuto calls, and Kuroo grins to himself at how noisy Bokuto is. Kenma gives Kuroo a look, to which the latter raises his eyebrow.

“What’s with the look?” Kuroo says.

“What look?” Kenma mutters, quickly glancing away. 

_“That_ look.” Kuroo shakes his head. “It’s your suspicious look.”

Kenma rolls his eyes, and he knows that Kuroo won’t let it rest now that he’s caught on. Kenma’s never been one to be confrontational, but he knows he can ask Kuroo anything. “Did something happen between you and Y/N? I just get a weird feeling from you guys.” 

“Huh? Weird?” Kuroo laughs it off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe _you’re_ acting weird. I’m not weird at all.”

Kenma just raises his eyebrows, as Kuroo just proved his point. 

“Alright.” Kuroo sighs and shifts his backpack from one shoulder to another. “Ehh… me and her kinda… I dunno, had a moment.”

“A moment?” Kenma furrows his eyebrows together. 

“Yeah, I mean, we already worked it out, though.” Kuroo rubs the back of his neck.

“You’re blushing.” Kenma narrows his eyes. “Did you two have se--”

“NO!” Kuroo exclaims, and Bokuto’s head pops up from a few aisles over, the only thing visible being his tuft of hair and raised eyebrows. 

“What’s up? Did you guys find Sami?” He calls.

Kuroo pinches the bridge of his nose. “No.”

Kenma unsuccessfully hides his smile. “You really never change, do you?” He hums.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kuroo puts his hands on his hips, but when Kenma just gives him a cheeky grin, they both know exactly what it means. Kuroo rolls his eyes as he fights back a blush. “Whatever, dude, just… keep it to yourself.” He mutters, and looks for something to do to stop this conversation.

“No luck over here, either.” Akaashi sighs, and Kenma decides to quit teasing Kuroo for now. He pulls out his radio, and presses the button to speak into it. “Any of you guys copy? Sami doesn’t seem to be here.” The radio answers back with static, to which Akaashi frowns. 

“Maybe we’re outta range?” Kuroo says, and follows Kenma as the group walks towards the exit. 

“Maybe.” Akaashi shrugs, Bokuto following behind him. As soon as Kenma and Akaashi step foot outside the store, hands grab them on either side and yank them away from Kuroo and Bokuto. 

“Yo, what the fuck!” Kuroo exclaims, and he and Bokuto immediately raise their pitiful weapons as they hurry out onto the sidewalk, only to be met with their two friends being held hostage right in front of them. Kuroo grits his teeth but stays rooted in place-- he knows he’s no match for one guy with a gun, let alone two, especially when his best friend’s life now hangs in the balance. 

Bokuto curses, and quickly fumbles for his radio. 

“BLUE!! WE GOT A CODE BLUE, GET TO THE TRADER JOE’S!!”

[-]

The sun beats down on you, and you feel a bead of sweat drip from your forehead and down your cheek and neck. Indie growls beside you, so you quickly grab her collar to keep her from going after the two gunmen-- you regret not searching harder for guns back home, but they just weren’t a common thing to come across in your town; plus, they might have all already been looted, for all you know. 

“Put your hands up.” The dark-haired one commands. Your eyes are glued to Akaashi, whose brows are furrowed with his eyes squeezed shut-- then you glance to Kenma, whose shoulders are hunched as he grips the blonde guy’s arm with ferocity. You should be anxious beyond belief right now-- you should be flooded with fear for Kenma and Akaashi’s lives. For some reason, you just feel sort of numb all over, even though your heart is beating at about a million miles an hour. The image of Sami’s rotting body won’t leave your head, and you still feel absolutely sick to your stomach, but your body feels like it’s been put on hold-- you couldn’t move even if you wanted to.

“Okay, okay.” Iwaizumi says evenly, and slowly puts his hands in the air to show he isn’t a threat-- Oikawa follows suit, but you’re frozen in place while you keep a grip on Indie. 

The one holding Akaashi narrows his green eyes at you and Indie, then glances to Iwaizumi once again. A gentle breeze blows through the trees above you, and the scent of baked asphalt tickles your nose while a few fallen leaves and bits of trash dance along the pavement. This could be a scene from a Western movie with how tense the atmosphere has become.

“Who sent you?” The one with the dark hair demands. 

“Huh?” Oikawa says incredulously. 

“Don’t play dumb.” The one with the undercut pipes up. “We know you’re with those fuckers at Kaiser.” 

“We don’t know what you’re talking about.” Oikawa insists. “Listen, we just got here like an hour ago-- we’re not from L.A.” 

“Tch, yeah right.” The one with the undercut grips Kenma tighter, which causes Kuroo to take a step forward. “Where’s the rest of you guys, huh? We’re probably surrounded by now; we should just get outta here, Simon.”

The one named Simon narrows his green eyes at Oikawa, then glances over to Kuroo and Bokuto. The two boys look angry like you’ve never seen-- especially Bokuto, whose knuckles are white from how tightly he grips the baseball bat.

“Drop your weapons.” Simon commands. When Kuroo and Bokuto only stare back with hardened resolve, Simon clicks the safety off of his gun. “Drop. Your weapons.”

Kuroo narrows his eyes, and Bokuto grits his teeth, but the two boys drop the baseball bat and crowbar. 

“Does the name Kurt Johnson mean anything to you?” Simon asks in a low voice. 

Iwaizumi tries to pull the attention back towards him in an attempt to diffuse the tension between Simon and Kuroo and Bokuto. “No, dude. We’re telling you, we have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.” 

An agonizing moment of silence passes. Simon seems to be mulling things over, probably deciding whether your group is telling the truth or not. You catch the gaze of Akaashi, and you feel tears prick your eyes as soon as his deep blue ones soften upon seeing you. He gives you a small, comforting smile, and you wonder how in the hell he can be so calm right now-- you feel ridiculous that _he’s_ the one consoling _you_ , given the present circumstances. 

“Here’s what’s gonna happen.” Simon finally says, calm like the sea before a storm. “We’re gonna let your guys go. Then you’re going to come with us.”

“Fuck that.” Iwaizumi spits, but Oikawa motions for him to be quiet. His usually warm brown gaze is harsh now, with a glint to it you’ve never seen before. 

“Where will you take us?” Oikawa asks, voice just as even as Simon’s.

The two gunmen seem to relax a bit at the hint of cooperation. “A hotel not too far from here. Called the Courtyard.” Simon answers, though he and the other one make no moves to let Akaashi and Kenma go. “We need your word that you’ll do as we say.”

For a moment, there isn’t a sound-- just the faint rustling of trees. Another bead of sweat rolls down your face, and Indie pants, very obviously antsy to go and protect your boys, but you hold her collar tight. Something blinds your vision for a second, and you wince, gaze instinctively flitting about in search of whatever it was that shone in your eyes. You look up, towards the roof of the Trader Joe’s, where you see first the shining face of someone’s watch, attached to someone’s wrist, attached to someone’s arm, shoulder, and then surprisingly young face of a guy, which is turned down towards Simon and the boy with the undercut. One of his eyes is squeezed shut while he squints down the barrel of a rather large gun-- is that a sniper gun? You tilt your head and wonder for a moment why you’re so calm about this whole thing. Should you say something? It looks like this guy is aiming for the two people holding guns to your friends heads-- maybe you should just let him do his thing and plead ignorance when this whole situation is over. 

But maybe he’ll accidentally hit Akaashi or Kenma.

“Hey,” You pipe up, uncomfortable with how loud your voice is, and move your free hand to point up to the mysterious gunman.

“Don’t fucking move!” Simon warns, and you would be a lot more scared of him if he didn’t also have a gun trained on him right now. But then he swiftly points his gun at you, and you freeze in your actions, suddenly indignant at this idiot for threatening you when you’re trying to help him even though you have no reason to. 

“Bruh, I’m trying to help--” You start, but all at once, three things happen:

One: Simon fucking shoots at you. The bastard misses, but just barely, because you hear the deafening sing of the bullet as it whips past your ear, leaving you with a persistent ringing that drowns out all other noise around you. In the back of your mind, you vaguely register a warmth trickle from your ear and down your neck, but for now, you just duck to crouch and scurry as fast as you can to the nearest cover (while holding Indie tightly in fear) with Oikawa and Iwaizumi while the second thing happens:

Two: The gunman from up above shoots at Simon (it’s what he deserves), but the bullet that shoots out isn’t actually a bullet, it’s a dart-- and it hits Akaashi right in his neck. The dark-haired boy winces, then immediately slumps against Simon as he passes out. Simon curses under his breath, and he and the boy with the undercut make quick, practiced moves to escape with Kenma as a hostage, while Kuroo shouts something angry after them. They just leave Akaashi passed out on the street, and then:

Three: Bokuto stupidly, heroically, rushes over to Akaashi as soon as Simon lets him go, and reaches him just in time to haul his unconscious form off of the street while he and Kuroo retreat back into the Trader Joe’s in an effort to get out of the other gunman’s sight. 

Up above, you hear an over-the-top groan in annoyance-- it sounds like a girl. 

“Come on, Simon! You’re seriously such a pain right now.” She hollers after him. “This would be a whole lot easier if you just came back home! I’m looking at you, Terushima!! Remember me?! Your _girlfriend_?!”

“Quiet, Bec.” A deeper male voice answers, but the rest of the conversation is drowned out as you take stock of your current circumstances. 

You’re hidden behind a car, slumped on the floor with Indie laying on top of your lap. She’s growling quietly, and you can’t really blame her. Iwaizumi and Oikawa are sat on either side of you, panting and wide-eyed.

“What the fuck?!” Iwaizumi breathes, and turns to peek over the hood of the car. 

“Don’t!” Oikawa hisses, his arm shooting across you to grab Iwaizumi’s sleeve. “Just lie low and wait for them to leave.”

Iwaizumi slumps back down with an impatient huff, then looks at you in horror. “Oh, shit! Are you okay?”

“Huh?” You say, unsure as to why Iwaizumi is looking at you as if you just got shot in the head. He touches your ear, and when he pulls his hand back, his fingers are covered in blood.

Oh. It’s because you just got shot in the head. 

“Shit,” Oikawa hisses, and takes off his backpack to get out some bandages. “Are you okay? Iwa, how deep is the wound?”

“I-I can’t tell.” Iwaizumi swallows thickly, and you can tell he’s trying really hard to keep it together.

You feel for him-- if you didn’t have massive amounts of adrenaline coursing through you right now, you’d be a useless, sobbing mess. Plus, for some reason, seeing Iwaizumi start to lose it makes your body kick into overdrive, and you force yourself to forget what you’ve seen in the past hour in favor of helping to comfort your friend. You hold Iwaizumi’s hand, and give him a reassuring smile. 

“I’m good, I’m good,” You say, though your voice shakes a little. “I think he just got my ear.”

“If I see that fucking guy again,” Iwaizumi grunts, and reaches across you to take the bandages and disinfectant from Oikawa.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll beat him up.” Oikawa finishes with a bit of a laugh in his voice. “But look how tough our girl is; I think she’ll be the one beating him up before you.” 

You can’t help but smile at that, and your heart soars when Oikawa calls you their girl-- you’ve never been anyone’s girl before. A brief stinging sensation lights up your ear, and you flinch away while Iwaizumi lets out an annoyed ‘tsk’. 

“Quit moving; I’m trying to help you, idiot.” He says, though his tone is exceedingly gentle. You just nod, and pet Indie while Iwaizumi cleans your ear and Oikawa stays alert, trying to listen in on the two people on the roof.

It doesn’t take too long for Iwaizumi to clean your wound, and he assures you that it isn’t all that big-- he remembers reading somewhere that head wounds bleed a lot, even if they’re small. The brief interlude has allowed the three of you to catch your breaths, and Oikawa uses his radio to get through to Kuroo, Bokuto, and Akaashi.

“Any of you guys copy?” He asks quietly, and you notice for the first time that everything is quieter than before-- though, the absence of sound only adds to the tense feeling in the air.

A few crackles of static, and Oikawa turns down his volume before Kuroo’s voice comes through clearly. 

“Yeah, we’re all good-- those fuckers took Kenma, and Akaashi is out cold, but I think it was just a tranquilizer that got him.” Kuroo’s strong baritone does wonders to your nerves, and you’re relieved beyond words that your boys are okay-- but your mind fills with thoughts for Kenma and where he could be, and what you can possibly do to save him. 

“Okay, that’s good.” Oikawa breathes a sigh of relief, and looks to you and Iwaizumi. “Listen, we need to get to the van before we can go after Kenma. It’s parked on your side of the street-- the building that’s right behind me should have a back door that leads to the opposite street, so my plan is for you two to drag Akaashi into the van and drive it around this block to meet us on the other side. Make sense?”

One of the car windows above you and Iwaizumi shatters as a bullet-- not a dart-- shoots into the wall of the building in front of you. You have to slap your hand over your mouth to stop the yelp that’s startled out of you as spackled bits of the wall sprinkle down on the pavement..

“Whoever you are, come out now and make it easier on yourselves.” The strong male voice shouts from the roof. He and the girl must’ve brought two guns with them. 

“Makes sense.” Kuroo answers, though his voice is tense-- clearly, he either heard or saw what just went down. “Ima throw something to draw their attention away from the both of our groups-- we only got one shot, okay? After I throw the thing, you guys gotta make a break for it, fast.”

“Got it.” Oikawa answers.

There’s some shuffling on Kuroo’s end, and you, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi share solemn glances with each other. You take a deep, shaky breath, and nod to them, carefully shifting Indie off of your lap as you move into a crouch. Iwaizumi and Oikawa do the same, and the three of you lay in wait for Kuroo to act. 

“How sure are you that this building leads to the other side?” You whisper.

“Uh…” Oikawa breathes out a laugh. “Maybe forty percent sure?”

Just then, something obnoxiously loud careens out of the Trader Joe’s, crashing into a car a few spaces to the left of your group-- it sounds like a shopping cart, from all the rattling across the asphalt. In an instant, you sharply whistle at Indie, the command for her to follow you and no one else, as you leap into action behind Oikawa and Iwaizumi. Just as planned, you hear shots fired towards Kuroo’s distraction as you turn and run.

The building you run through is a laundromat, dreary and dark with some of the machines filled with clothes that never finished their cycles. After a moment, a shower of bullets attempts to follow your group, and the windows behind you shatter one by one but the three of you crouch down as you escape, and make it inside before anyone is hit. Oikawa was right-- the laundromat leads to the other side of the street, and as the three of you spill onto the shaded sidewalk, you skid to a halt, trembling all over, as you wait for the van to show up. 

You hear some commotion from the other side, then a screeching of tires, and then the van comes careening around the corner, Kuroo in the driver’s seat. A relieved laugh mixed with a sob escapes you as Kuroo screeches to a halt, Bokuto flings open the door, and the three of you plus Indie leap into the van. In a second, the door is slammed shut, and Kuroo speeds down the street once again, leaving the damn Trader Joe’s and Sami behind in the van’s exhaust.

[-]

Kuroo and Iwaizumi are arguing up front-- you don’t pay attention. Akaashi’s unconscious form lays across your lap, and you gently brush some of his soft black hair back while you study his relaxed features. You hold him gently, gingerly, and you wonder how long it’ll be before you discover him rotting away in a car, too. Or maybe he would be the one to discover you?

You lurch forward as Kuroo slams on the breaks. 

“I don’t give a fuck how risky it is. Kenma’s my best friend, and we’re not leaving him behind.” Kuroo snaps.

“I’m not saying we should leave him behind!” Iwaizumi snaps back. “All I’m saying is we should wait-- give those assholes some time to get back to their little hideout, and then we sneak in and get Kenma.”

“Iwa’s right.” Oikawa pipes up next to you. “We already know where they’re going-- they said it’s some hotel called the Courtyard. I’m sure if we just look at a map, we’ll find it.”

Kuroo just shakes his head, his jaw clenched tightly as he stares ahead of him, deep in thought. He glances up to the rearview mirror, and catches your gaze in it. His eyes soften, and Kuroo turns in his seat to really look at you.

“Are you okay?”

That’s probably the sweetest, most pointless thing he could ask right now. You just nod, as it’s your natural response to that question, but what you say actually contradicts that action.

“Sami’s dead.”

The silence that follows is expected, but uncomfortable nonetheless. Bokuto lets out a sympathetic sigh behind you, and you feel his strong hand pat your shoulder. Turning to face him, you’re met with the rare sight of a sad, sympathetic Bokuto-- you could swear even his hair is deflated. 

“I’m so sorry.” He murmurs, and all you can do is give a little nod, and squeeze his hand in thanks.

“You’re bleeding.” Kuroo says, and flings the van in park to hook Iwaizumi with an accusatory glare. “The fuck happened?”

“It’s fine, Kuroo!” You say before Iwaizumi can argue any further. “It was that guy Simon-- he just barely grazed my ear.”

“God fuckin’ damn it.” Kuroo mutters, and runs his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry any of us had to go through this shit.”

“I’m sorry that I made us come to L.A.” You say, and that confession just prompts your eyes to fill up with tears. You hastily wipe them away so that you don’t get Akaashi wet, but you can’t stop the wave of emotions coursing through you now that you aren’t in immediate danger. “If it wasn’t for me, we’d still have Kenma and Akaashi would be okay…”

“It’s not your fault.” Oikawa assures. “Listen, clearly we’ve all been through some shit today. We need to take a deep breath, clear our heads, and come up with a solid plan to get Kenma back-- if we just burst in there without a plan, we’re gonna be screwed.”

“We should get guns.” Iwaizumi says solemnly. 

Kuroo nods. “I agree. I’m sick of having to deal with those fucking things when I can’t defend myself.”  
{*}  
“Can we please stop talking about guns?” You wince, and you know how sensitive and pathetic you must sound right now, but you seriously feel sick to your stomach as the events of the past hour keep replaying behind your eyelids. The car feels overwhelmingly stuffy, and your breath starts coming in short pants as the walls begin to close in around you. Indie whimpers, and licks your hand, but even that usually comforting gesture feels like pinpricks on your skin. You wrench your hand away, and fist it in your hair as you screw your eyes shut. “I-I need to get out of here,” You gasp, “I’m… I’m freaking out, I’m sorry--” 

“Shit, Kuroo, drive somewhere out of the city, quick.” Oikawa says. He tries to put a comforting hand on your shoulder, but you flinch away with a shake of your head. Kuroo curses under his breath, and resumes driving, turning this way and that, which just makes you feel worse.

“Sorry, sorry…” You mutter, and Akaashi’s weight in your lap is suddenly suffocating-- he’s unconscious because of you. With trembling hands, you push him off of you and onto a bewildered Oikawa.

“Oh, no, are you okay? Just, uh-- just breathe, okay!” Bokuto worries from the back, but his voice is so loud, you turn away from him and curl up in your seat.

Even though your eyes are closed, you’re able to fumble for the button you’re looking for, and you violently press it to roll the window down. Fresh air floods the van, and you gulp it in like your life depends on it, but you still can’t breathe-- your body shakes with powerful tremors, ones that make your blood hotter than hell while you break out in a cold sweat, and you feel your heart hammer so quickly that it wracks your ribcage, and you can hear your pulse thundering in your ears, and you know you’re a nuisance like this, and you see Sami in the car--

And everything goes black. 

[-] {*}

_“Hey, this one’s only two thousand dollars a month!” You said excitedly, and turned your laptop towards Sami to show her the prospective apartment. “It’s in Brooklyn, a studio, and it has its own bathroom.”_

_“Girl, we are gonna be so poor.” Sami busted out laughing. “You’re gonna have to deal with my loud-ass snores while we sleep on like, cots in the living room.”_

_You rolled your eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “There’s something romantic about being stupidly poor in the big city.”_

_“Oh, absolutely.” Sami agreed. “But only when you’re young. We gotta find sugar daddies or marry rich, or something.”_

_“Let’s agree to only date people in Upper Manhattan. I’m pretty sure that’s where all the rich people are.” Shoving more popcorn into your mouth, you gestured to the movie playing in front of the two of you. “Why are men so disappointing in real life? All I want is a Darcy to flex his hand in yearning after barely touching me.”_

_“Don’t we all?” Sami sighed, and continued to paint her nails. A soft lilac-- the color of her prom dress. “I’m gonna paint your nails next, okay? I bought like, the perfect powdery blue to go with your dress.”_

[-]

The beach was always your favorite place to visit-- you knew you’d miss it as soon as you left California. Waves crashing along the shore always brought a certain calmness that you couldn’t describe-- the salty air and occasional call of seagulls, the clanging of a buoy as you swim further out to sea, all of those little things have been ingrained in your subconscious as telling signs of home. 

So, when you blink your eyes open, shaded underneath a partially torn umbrella, you’re surprised to feel soft lumps of sand as you lay on top of a towel that you’re pretty sure isn’t yours. It takes you a second to get your bearings-- are you really at the beach? Was this all just a bad dream? Are you with Sami now?

“Hey,” A breathy laugh from someone familiar prompts you to force your eyes open again, to be met with Kuroo, who looks equal parts worried and relieved. “Hey, oh man, you’re awake.” He can’t help but tuck some of your hair behind your ear as he leans over you, an absent-minded smile relaxing his features. “You really gave us a scare.”

“‘M… sorry…” You croak, and give him a weak smile back as you limply hold his hand by your ear. “Kuroo…” You hiccup, and you can’t help the tears that start to fall again, and your heart sinks when he looks worried again, so despite how light-headed you still feel, you sit up as quickly as you can and bury your face in his chest, wrapping your arms weakly around his middle. “Thank you for staying.” 

It’s such a quiet whisper, and Kuroo can’t believe how much it hurts and comforts him to hear you say that. Why the hell would he ever leave you? He immediately hugs you back, and every time this has happened, it’s felt like the most natural thing in the world-- like when he used to solve chemistry problems in one try without needing to look up any formulas. 

“She’s aliiiiive!” Bokuto cheers, and joins in on the hug, which prompts you to laugh and turn towards him with a sniffle. 

“Hi, Bokuto,” You smile, and he ruffles your hair while Indie comes bounding down the sand with Iwaizumi and Oikawa. The van is parked nearby, and the salty air combs through your clothes and hair as you pet Indie appreciatively. Kuroo and Bokuto pull away, and help you to stand up. “Thanks, guys, I’m really sorry.” You say sheepishly to Oikawa and Iwaizumi.

“Aww! Don’t apologize!” Oikawa croons, and pulls you into a hug-- one which you can really only describe as dreamy. “Trust us, we’ve had our own share of freak-out moments.”

“We’re just glad you’re okay.” Iwaizumi nods, and gives you a pat on the head when Oikawa lets you go. You smile at all of them, even though you’re still crying a little, and you wipe away your tears with your sleeve. 

“Where’s Akaashi?” You ask.

“Still sleeping in the van.” Bokuto says with a sigh. “Man, I’ll feel a lot better when he wakes up. When the both of you were knocked out, I seriously thought I was gonna go crazy!”

“I’m sorry, Bokuto.” You frown sympathetically, but he waves your apology away with a supportive smile. 

“Don’t be. While you were out, we came up with a badass plan.” He says, and shares a scheming grin with Kuroo. 

“Oh, yeah.” Kuroo nods. “We’re getting Kenma back.”

“ _And_ we’re gonna make sure that Simon and his little friends don’t fuck with us again.” Iwaizumi confirms, and you feel a surge of confidence as a particularly strong wave crashes ahead of you. You’ve already been through so much-- you still feel the gaping hole left in your heart from discovering that Sami’s dead, but these guys have supported you and clearly, they still do. They’ve helped you more than you ever thought was possible; you want to repay that fierce loyalty to them. You want them to know that you’re here for them, too, and that you plan to stick around.

You nod, determined to get your friend back.

“Let’s do this.”

[-]

_”Puh-leeeease, I’m literally begging you!” That energetic freshman with the bright orange hair was pestering Kuroo again-- Hinata, right?_

_Kuroo just laughed, and closed his locker with a flourish. “Sorry, kid, you’re not getting my old chemistry notes.”_

_“But everyone says that you’re the best at chemistry! And I failed the last test, and if I fail another test I won’t be able to go to the summer camp--” Hinata babbled on, standing on his tip-toes to entreat Kuroo further._

_The older boy rolled his eyes with a smirk. “You kids these days, you don’t know how to handle school and sports, huh? That’s gonna bite you in the ass one day.” But Kuroo relented, and pulled his notes from freshman year out of his folder, photo-copied and laminated because he had a feeling that Hinata might do something dumb like spill orange juice on it._

_The kid’s already bright eyes just brightened even more, and he took the notes like they were pure gold. “Thank you!! Seriously, thank you so much! I-I’ll pay you back, I promise!” He called as he sprinted down the hallway towards his own locker._

_Kuroo laughed again to himself-- ah, youth._

_“Was that Shouyo?” Kenma’s quiet voice piped up from behind Kuroo, who turned and nodded._

_“I gave him my chem notes-- he’s seriously lucky he’s friends with you, since now he has access to powerful connections such as me.” Kuroo grinned, and Kenma just rolled his eyes as the five-minute bell rang across the campus._

_“Speaking of chemistry,” Kenma paused, and nodded towards the girl at the end of the hallway, talking with her friends animatedly about something the two boys couldn’t make out. “When are you gonna talk to her? It’s been months and you won’t stop staring every time she’s around.”_

_Kuroo frowned with a huff. “I do not stare.”_

_“Yeah, you do.”_

_“Do not.”_

_“Do.”_

_“Do **not.** ”_

_“Totally do.”_

_Kuroo waved Kenma’s pestering comments away, and bravely started walking towards her, since his first class was right where you hung out every morning. Kenma followed behind, and grinned to himself when Kuroo’s eyes predictably slid over to you as they passed by._

_And you looked so pretty that day, just like every day you and him had chemistry together-- and Kuroo noticed you had painted your nails, a nice powdery blue._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUST TRUST ME OKAY.
> 
> listen kenma is best boy and i would kill someone before i let them lay their hands on him-- and reader and the Boyz clearly feel the same, so count on kicking some ass and learning some THINGS next chapter.
> 
> THANK YOU again for reading, kudo-ing, and commenting. y'all seriously make my day when u leave a comment, so don't be afraid to stop by and say hi! see you guys next update <3


	8. Infiltration, Baby!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slaps the roof of this chapter*  
> you can fit so many fucking SEMICOLONS in this bad boy
> 
> hello!! i'm finally back, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! i planned on posting this before 2021, honest i did, but the plot has evolved quite a bit, so i had to rework my outline a little bit, which did set me back BUT i am ultimately a lot happier with how this story is progressing.
> 
> i won't take up too much of your time here!! thank you guys so much for your support, kudos, comments, bookmarks, whatever! everything is hella stressful, and while this chapter is jam packed with A LOT, there is also some sweet sweet retribution at the end. please enjoy!!

Six months ago, if you were to ask Oikawa Tooru where he thought he’d be right now, he would have told you that he’d be getting ready for graduation with his best friends, and preparing to attend university on a sports scholarship for volleyball. Oikawa has always been proud of his hard work ethic-- he’s always known that he isn’t a prodigy, or a genius, or a naturally gifted person (aside from his good looks). He’d tell you that he’s accepted that, and that he actually prefers the hard work over any sort of ‘blessing’ or ‘natural talent,’ because then, life would be too easy-- all of the fun, all of the challenge would be taken out of it!

The truth is, he’s always wished to be better than he actually is-- nothing is enough. 

And he’s always resented himself because of it.

The day that Oikawa felt truly helpless and useless was the day he discovered that his older sister and her son-- his nephew-- had died in a car crash. 

It was maybe three days after everyone started disappearing. Oikawa’s parents never came home when the first power outage hit, and when he called his sister, she had been in hysterics because her husband disappeared right before her eyes. She had been waving at him from her balcony as he got out of his car. She had turned her back when her son called out for her, and when she looked back to where her husband should have been, he was gone-- not even his clothes remained-- only his briefcase, forced open from the abrupt fall it suffered. He had been too far from the entrance to the apartment complex to have made it inside already-- still, she waited and waited for him, but he never came, and her anxiety only mounted from there. 

Oikawa has always been a rational person. So, he told her to calm down, and encouraged her and her son to come right over so that they could wait for their mom and dad to come home together. 

She agreed-- but she didn’t make it. 

Oikawa had biked towards her house to see why she was running three hours late, and twenty minutes into the ride, he had found her car on the road totaled by a semi, the truck driver nowhere to be found. 

Death is natural-- it happens.

Grieving is natural, even though it feels anything but. Oikawa spent an hour in the sea of abandoned cars, clawing at the tangled metal of the car doors, trying to open them to get to his sister and nephew, even though they didn’t need him anymore.

He isn’t quite sure how long he spent at the wreckage, but he must have made it home after that. Truthfully, it was all a blur. A few days must have passed between then and when Iwaizumi came looking for him, because by the time his best friend broke into his home, Oikawa had been locked away in his room trying to avoid the entire world, malnourished and dizzy. 

If you had met Oikawa Tooru a few months prior, you would have written him off as just another pretty boy who had the potential to go anywhere he wanted in life on account of his incredible charm. If Oikawa Tooru had met you a few months prior, he probably would have written you off as just another girl in the crowd on the way to his goals of athletic perfection. 

But Oikawa Tooru had met you in the beginning of the end of the world-- and he had never felt closer to you than in the moment that you fell to your knees in front of Sami’s car wreck, and he was the one that had been there for you. He was there, because when he was in your exact position, he had wished more than anything that someone had been there for him-- he wouldn’t wish that loneliness upon anyone. 

While you were passed out on the beach, Oikawa played fetch with Indie. He had always wanted a dog, but there just wasn’t much time to get one in his family. His sister was planning on getting her son a puppy for his birthday before all this happened.

“You good?” Iwaizumi had asked when Oikawa threw the stick for the umpteenth time.

A pause while Oikawa collected himself. He smiled his dazzling smile, though his best friend was unconvinced.

“I’m fine! Just a little worried for her, is all.”

If there’s one thing Oikawa Tooru knows how to do, it’s how to put on a damn good performance. 

So, when you woke up, he had smiled like everything was fine-- even though just an hour before, he was close to tearing his hair out with worry. It’s amazing how clingy he could be, especially to a girl he barely knew. But, Oikawa feels like he does know you now; he feels significantly more connected to you, at least-- the three of you managed to escape possible gangsters, in the middle of the apocalypse, which is no small feat. In those crucial moments, he was unspeakably grateful that Iwaizumi was there with him-- but he realized, too, how important it was to him to have you there-- to protect you.

In short, Oikawa Tooru is grateful that he met you. He’s grateful that you’ve become part of his strange family that seems to have come from the end of all things. 

The six of you left the beach quite a while ago-- the sun is setting by the time you actually find a map of Los Angeles, among the ruins of a tourist kiosk on the side of the road deeper inland. Reading maps isn’t anyone’s strong suit, but after Kuroo figures out which Trader Joe’s you all escaped from, you all manage to get your bearings from there. 

Akaashi-- who woke up about two hours ago-- is still a little groggy, but he’s able to brainstorm with the lot of you. Bokuto stays glued to his side, very obviously relieved to have his best friend awake and safe again. 

As it stands, there are about five different Courtyard Hotels within a ten mile radius of the Trader Joe’s. What a pain-- the only option you have is to investigate each one, starting with whichever is closest to the grocery chain and moving out. Kuroo remembered to bring Sharpies, so he draws a route from the tourist kiosk towards the first Courtyard, and then the possible routes you’ll take if Simon and his friends don’t happen to be there.

“So, what exactly are we gonna do once we get into the hotel? I mean, what if Simon’s expecting us and he and his friends are just waiting for us?” You fret, and pat Indie nervously.

“Basically, we’re gonna be a distraction.” Iwaizumi says as he studies the map. It’s spread out on the hood of the van, pinned down by bits of rock and concrete at the edges while you all crowd around it.

“Me, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto are gonna go in the front and make as big of an entrance as we can. Say some shit about how we’re surrendering and all that, maybe make up some story that you three got kidnapped by those other maniacs at Trader Joe’s-- whatever is going on between those guys ain’t good, so if we make it seem like we’re on Simon’s side, I think it’ll raise our chances of pulling this off.” Kuroo adds.

Iwaizumi nods. “Yeah, good idea. Anyways, once we’ve pulled Simon’s attention and made him aware of our presence at the front, Akaashi and Oikawa are gonna sneak in the back and start looking for Kenma.”

“What about--” You start, but get cut off by Oikawa.

“What happens if we run into any other members? We don’t know how many of them there are-- it’s a hotel, so there could be a good number of them hiding in there.” Oikawa points out.

“Somethin’ tells me that Simon’s the rogue here. I dunno, I feel like he’s part of a smaller group.” Kuroo snickers. “Clearly, he doesn’t play well with others, and that other guy definitely has a target on his back from the girl that screamed at him.”

“Okay, but--” You start again, but Bokuto speaks over you.

“We should look for guns before we start this thing! Like you guys said, we’re getting our asses kicked without them.” Bokuto crosses his arms.

“Guns are too noisy.” Akaashi frowns in thought. “We don’t have time on our side, either-- it’s already getting dark. They could be preparing to move as we speak.”

“What about chloroform or something? We get some rags, soak them, and just knock out anyone we encounter.” Oikawa adds.

“Hey!” You raise your voice, irritated at how they’ve all been talking over you. The boys all glance at you in surprise-- you always forget how tall they are until they stare down at you like that. “What about me? Am I just supposed to sit in the car and wait for you guys to come gallivanting out with Kenma?”

“Yup.” Iwaizumi says, a little too definitively for your taste. You frown, and crinkle your nose in irritation as you hook Kuroo with a meaningful glare.

“You said before that you made a mistake when you underestimated me.” You point out, and Kuroo takes a deep breath, avoidant of your gaze.

“I know. I’m not underestimating you right now--”

“Give me a break.” You scoff, rolling your eyes. “If today’s proved anything, it’s that I can handle myself, even when the worst shit comes my way.”

Kuroo sighs, and he seems to be holding himself back from saying anything further. You glance around at the other guys, who all seem to be on Kuroo’s side. It’s frustrating-- you feel like you’ve proved yourself time and time again, but they seem determined to try and keep you away from all the horrors of the world as if you haven’t already experienced them.

Iwaizumi and Kuroo share a meaningful glance before the latter sighs, and finally meets your gaze. “Are you a hundred percent positive you’ll be able to handle more shit like we went through today?”

Kuroo’s question gives you pause-- will you? Will you be able to face the dark streets of L.A., a hotel filled with dangerous people, perhaps the unspeakable possibility that you might find Kenma like Sami--

You draw your lips into a tight line and furrow your brow. Would you rather sit alone in the van, waiting in ignorance while your friends risk their lives? Would you rather risk being the only one to come out alive from this operation by staying behind?

You can’t. Doubting yourself right now is the worst thing you can do. Moving forward, staying busy and distracted-- that’s what you need to do right now.

“Please.” You say. “I need to do this. I can’t sit in the car, all alone, and watch you guys run into some hotel that you might not run out of. I can’t…” You bite your lip, but you can’t stop the tears from escaping your already puffy eyes. “I can’t be left behind again.”

Iwaizumi sighs beside you. He shares a glance with Kuroo again, who stands with tense shoulders and a furrowed brow while you try not to cry for the fiftieth time today. Oikawa puts his arm around your shoulders.

“It’s probably a better idea that we don’t leave her alone in the van. She can do it. She should come with me and Akaashi around the back so that we can look out for each other-- and Indie should come along, too, just in case.” Oikawa encourages. He rubs your arm, and you lean into him while you wipe away your tears, annoyed at yourself for causing so much worry. 

Kuroo frowns, and focuses instead at the map. He ignores the way Oikawa’s hand squeezes you comfortingly, and just gives a terse nod.

“Alright. We won’t leave you behind.” He mutters, though there’s a sick feeling in his gut at the thought of once again willingly ushering you into danger. But the thought of Kenma and whatever fate he’s facing at the Courtyard makes him feel even worse, and his patience is running thinner by the minute. Kuroo never thought he’d have to weigh his best friend’s life against the risk of facing actual gangsters before he even graduated high school, yet here he is.

“Okay.” Bokuto breaks the weird tension in the air by clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Seems like we have a pretty solid plan! Let’s go.”

“Wait, there’s one more thing.” Kuroo says. “We’re all gonna have our radios on us-- you three,” He points to you, Akaashi, and Oikawa, “are gonna use those earphones that came with ‘em, and stay plugged in til you hear us say the magic word as the go-ahead for you guys to enter. One of us will have a radio on us and slip it into the conversation so that you guys don’t just go in blind.”

“Fair enough,” You nod. “What’s the code word?”

Bokuto slams his hand on the map with a proud smile. “Blue!”

[-]

It takes two hotels before you finally land on the right one-- though it’s so unsuspecting, you’re impressed with how well it’s hidden in the background. It’s completely boarded up along with all of the other empty buildings on this block, the small valet driveway empty with the exception of one camry, the engine long-dead since its passenger disappeared. Yet another seatbelt still buckled from when it protected whoever sat in its seat before.

The two hotels before this one were fairly ordinary-- both looted, both completely empty. The first group entered the hotel according to plan while you, Akaashi, and Oikawa lay in wait behind it. Luckily, the fire escapes were propped open-- probably from the previous looters-- so you didn’t have to risk figuring out how to pick any locks. 

To be honest, it was a little disappointing to find that the two hotels were empty. Your anxiety was through the fucking roof at the first hotel; at the second one, you felt a little more sure of yourself and ready to face danger; but standing behind the third one now, you just want to get this over with. You’re ready to punch anyone at this point, just to make all the hype worth it. 

“Quit picking at your nails.” Oikawa whispers. The three of you are pressed against the back wall, sandwiched between this building and the next, the alleyway lined with rotting trash bins. Moonlight shines on the three of you, and you remember how you felt when you first wandered onto campus that night a few weeks ago, when you thought Sami was still alive-- it still feels like you’re underwater.

Oikawa slaps at your hand as you ignore him.

“Don’t be mean and ignore me. You’ll ruin your pretty hands!” He insists.

“Can you be quiet, please? I’m trying to listen for our super secret code word.” You say with faux-seriousness, as if you’re the class president asking the kids to be quiet during an assembly. Oikawa chuckles while Akaashi sighs next to you, patting Indie absently.

Meanwhile, Kuroo’s sly voice rings loud and clear through your earphones, only pushed into one ear so that you can still stay semi-alert. 

_“Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot back there.”_ Kuroo says, and you almost believe that he’s calm and not actually freaking the fuck out on the inside.

 _“Yeah, I’ll say.”_ Simon’s voice is a bit fainter, as it’s clearly farther away from the radio. You wonder who’s holding the ‘talk’ button down right now as you lean against the wall behind you, staring up at the stars once again.

[-]

It’s Bokuto that’s holding down the ‘talk’ button, hand pressed behind his back as inconspicuously as possible. He’s hoping that maybe his puffy windbreaker sleeves will make his body look just shapeless enough that it isn’t suspicious. Wait, is his thumb still pressed on the button? Yeah. Man, this is actually sort of tiring. Is he gaining some muscle from this? He really hasn’t worked out much since the world ended. 

Oh, shit-- something’s happening. Was that the code word?

“Look, we’re here to make an alliance.” Kuroo says, smooth as ever. Okay, good, Bokuto didn’t miss the code word. 

“An alliance.” Simon repeats, arms crossed and just as skeptical as he is threatening. 

The hotel is completely dark, barely illuminated by the moonlight that manages to sneak past the gaps in the curtains drawn tightly closed. There are a slew of candles, a few of them melted down to just a sliver, placed along the floor and desk in groups, indicating this place has been lived in for quite some time. 

Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto had just barely stepped foot into the lobby before Simon and Terushima stopped them at gunpoint, sitting leisurely behind the welcome desk as if it’d been their job all along. 

When asked how they knew that the three of them were coming, Simon simply responded that cars are pretty loud in an abandoned neighborhood, and that it would be smart of them to consider that next time they attempt any kind of stealth mission.

Kuroo couldn’t hold back his smirk at that comment, because he _did_ think of just that when you, Akaashi, and Oikawa slipped out of the van a block away to sneak around the back while he pulled up to the front of the hotel, making sure to rev the engine just loud enough to plead ignorance while attracting the attention he needed. As soon as Kuroo had stepped through the doors, he had made a point to take note of where the first floor’s hallway would be. He was right-- just like the second hotel, the first floor is off to the left, around a corner. 

That’s good; when you sneak into the first floor, Simon and Terushima won’t be able to see you. It’s lucky that you all got two test runs at the two other hotels before this one-- things aren’t as unfamiliar, allowing your group to have a slight upper hand.

“Yeah, an alliance. Somethin’ tells me you’re not too good at making friends, so I thought this would be a better approach.” Kuroo says, but elicits no reaction from the dark-haired boy ahead of him. 

“We have something you want.” Simon says, and doesn’t miss the way Kuroo’s gaze darkens dangerously. “Don’t worry, we didn’t hurt him-- we’re not like those fucking monsters from the roof.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell the four of you apart, personally.” Iwaizumi scoffs. 

“You’re right-- you do have someone we want.” Kuroo breezes right past the potential conflict. “If it’s true that you didn’t hurt him, we’ll join you. You offered that to us back there, so here we are.”

“Why the change of heart?” Terushima, the one with the undercut, finally pipes up.

“Three of ours were taken by the sniper and the girl-- you’d probably know her as your girlfriend?” Kuroo says, and he really can’t help himself from making that extra jab towards the blond. Terushima scowls.

“ _Ex_ -girlfriend. Me leaving should’ve dropped the fucking hint.” Trushima corrects.

“They were taken?” Simon repeats, a glint of concern in his dark green eyes.

“Yes.” Iwaizumi huffs. “We really want to get them back, and you two seem to know a hell of a lot more than us, so here we are.”

“How old are your friends?” Simon presses, suddenly very tense. Kuroo furrows his brows, and exchanges a suspicious glance with Iwaizumi and Bokuto. 

Something fucked up is going down in this city, and he doesn’t want to stick around and find out what it is. 

“We’re all eighteen-- except Kenma, he’s seventeen.” Kuroo decides to answer truthfully; Simon knowing your ages shouldn’t be an issue.

The dark haired boy visibly relaxes, and glances to the side in thought. He lifts his gun, and pointedly unloads it, setting it down on the desk before him. Everyone in the room feels a little less tense, even though Terushima doesn’t follow Simon’s lead-- he merely tucks his gun away, doesn’t unload it.

“Why does it matter?” Iwaizumi asks.

“We’ll have time to talk about all this later.” Simon responds, very aware that he still maintains the upper hand in this situation.

Kuroo lets out an impatient huff-- how long is he going to have to entertain this guy’s conversation before he gets Kenma back?

“Look, man, we’re here to ask for help.” He says, forcing some semblance of patience into his tone. He and Iwaizumi exchange a glance-- they should be captivated enough for the second part of the plan to be set into motion. 

Kuroo pauses. How the fuck is he supposed to casually slip the word ‘blue’ into one of his sentences?

“Did they take your girlfriend?” Terushima asks.

“U-uh,” Kuroo clears his throat, unsure if he should confirm this without your permission. “Yeah. I’m-- uh, I really miss looking into her _blue_ eyes.” He says lamely, and glances at Bokuto out of the corner of his eye.

The bright-eyed boy is too busy studying the fucking wall art. Kuroo notices that the little light isn’t shining on his radio-- his thumb slipped off the damn button. 

“She has blue eyes?” Terushima wonders, gaze flitting to the ceiling as he tries to remember what you look like. “I didn’t notice. I like babes with pretty eyes, though.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo shoulders Bokuto as discreetly as possible, which is actually impossible, because Simon’s brows furrow in suspicion at the display. Iwaizumi just glares at the ceiling. “Right, Bokuto? I always said it was her _blue_ eyes that got me in the beginning.”

“Oh, shit! Yeah. Yeah, her _BLUE_ eyes.” He nods, and Kuroo notices that he’s pressing the button now-- thank fucking God-- and he lets out a huff of relief. 

“Blue eyes.” Simon nods, and leans back in his chair, finger tapping on the desk thoughtfully. After a moment, he stands and jerks his head towards the hallway on the left, leading to the first floor rooms. “Alright, well, I’ll take you to your friend and then we can discuss the terms of our alliance.” 

“Oh.” Kuroo says, exchanging a surprised, apprehensive glance with Iwaizumi. “J-just like that?”

“Yeah.” Terushima says, coming out from behind the desk as if he wasn’t just pointing a gun at the three guys a moment before. “We’re not heartless like those guys that kidnapped your other friends-- besides, it’s better that we get ‘em back sooner rather than later. Trust us.”

Ah, shit. You’re probably inside the hotel by now, along with Oikawa and Akaashi on the other floors-- they have to stall.

“U-uh, hold up.” Kuroo says, and Simon and Terushima pause, raising their eyebrows expectantly. “Um.” He’s at a loss for words. God damn it, how is he supposed to keep their attention long enough for you to sneak away? Moreover, how can he communicate to you that you need to hide?

“Tell us about that Kurt Johnson guy!” Bokuto suddenly pipes up, surprising both Kuroo and Iwaizumi. 

“Don’t you want to see your friend first?” Simon says, confused and a little suspicious. 

“Yeah-- er, I mean, no, not yet.” Bokuto says. 

“We just-- um, we aren’t sure how to tell him that Kuroo’s girlfriend got taken.” Iwaizumi adds, earning a look of _‘Where the fuck are you going with this.’_ from Kuroo.

“Because Kenma’s really in love with her.” Bokuto piles on.

Kuroo sets his jaw, and it takes everything in him not to slam his head into the wall. That could not be further from the truth. But, whatever soap opera Iwaizumi and Bokuto are spinning seems to be ample distraction for Terushima and Simon.

“No way.” Trushima’s eyes widen. “Dude, how do you feel about that?” He asks Kuroo, who grits his teeth.

“Not good.” He bites out. Iwaizumi and Bokuto are gonna get their asses beat for this.

“Kenma was like, childhood friends with her, so they have a stronger bond than her and Kuroo.” Iwaizumi fights back a grin. He’s actually enjoying this.

“Yeah!” Bokuto agrees with an enthusiastic smile, but then remembers this should be a serious situation and fights back his giddiness with a slap to Kuroo’s shoulder. “Aren’t you like, super insecure about your relationship right now?”

“Trust me, man, the apocalypse is really gonna put a strain on you two, especially if she’s got feelings for another guy.” Terushima says sympathetically.

“She doesn’t have feelings for Kenma!” Kuroo interjects, baffled at this little improv session Iwaizumi and Bokuto seem to be in.

“Says you,” Bokuto crosses his arms. “You’ve never been very observant of her feelings.”

“Oh my fuckin’ god.” Kuroo pinches the bridge of his nose. He’s being involuntarily cuckolded. 

“It’s okay, bro.” Iwaizumi pats his shoulder. “We can take our time to see Kenma-- it seems like you guys need space right now.”

_THUNK!_

_“Aaaahhh! S-Simon, help!!”_ a shrill voice from down the hall interrupts the group’s little performance.

Shit.

A look of realization mixed with mild amusement settles on Simon’s features, and he lets out a mirthless laugh. He saunters over to the desk while Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto stand frozen in place. As Simon takes his time reloading his gun, Terushima takes his out from the waistband of his jeans. 

“You all have exactly five seconds to decide if you wanna explain whatever the fuck you’ve been planning, or become moving target practice for me and Terushima.” Simon’s voice has that same twinge of danger from before, and Kuroo’s hands clench into fists. Shit.

“You guys ever heard of ‘The Dangerousest Game’?” Terushima smirks.

Kuroo almost laughs, despite the very obvious danger they are now in. 

“It’s ‘The Most Dangerous Game,’ dumbass.” Kuroo savors the look of confusion on the blonde’s face before he chucks his radio at him, hitting him square in the nose-- with the force he threw it at, Terushima falls back, obviously taken by surprise. 

Simon wastes no time in opening fire on the three boys-- bullets trail them as they make a beeline for the first floor hallway. They’re going to save you and Kenma or die trying; it isn’t even a question at this point.

[-]

**_Just a few minutes before all that…_ **

“God damn it.” Akaashi says.

“What?” You and Oikawa ask at the same time, watching as Akaashi pulls at the fire escape door, to no avail. 

“The door isn’t opening.” He huffs, and crouches down to inspect the lock.

“What the hell? The other two were wide open!” You complain.

“Those ones weren’t inhabited,” Akaashi sighs, and reaches around in his pocket, finally pulling out an actual lockpicking kit. “Simon’s smart to make sure this door’s locked-- makes me think he’s hiding from someone, probably those guys from Trader Joe’s.”

“Are you sure it isn’t a ‘push’ door?” Oikawa asks smugly, earning a glare of Akaashi.

“I’m sure.” He says tersely. 

“How, though, if you didn’t try it?”

Akaashi stops working, glares at Oikawa as he pointedly stands up, turns the handle as far as it will go, and pushes. Of course, it doesn’t give. You bite back a smile, and glance slyly at Oikawa, who definitely isn’t embarrassed at all.

“Well, at least we tried everything.” He reasons. Akaashi just shakes his head, and crouches back down to continue picking the lock.

You and Oikawa watch in amazement as Akaashi’s nimble fingers get to work on picking the lock. When did he learn how to do that?

 _“They took your girlfriend?”_ Simon’s voice asks through the radio.

Akaashi pauses. You blush, and Oikawa snickers beside you, earning him a punch to the arm.

“Ow!” He exclaims, holding his arm dramatically. 

“Shh!” You chastise, but can’t hold back your grin-- Oikawa can’t, either, and the two of you giggle while Akaashi continues to work.

_Static._

“What the?” Oikawa taps his radio. “Did it cut out for you guys, too?”

You nod, and all at once, worry rushes through your body like water crashing through a dam. “D-did they get shot or something?”

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions.” Akaashi says, though he looks just as concerned as you, brows furrowed as he continues to work. The lock finally clicks open, and Akaashi pries the door open slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible.

More static. You grip the radio like your life depends on it-- what if you run into the building only to find the three of them bleeding out on the floor?

 _“...Yeah, her BLUE eyes.”_ The radio tunes back in. It’s Bokuto’s voice. Akaashi lets out a relieved sigh.

“Alright. Let’s go.” The dark haired boy says, and the three of you silently file inside.

The staircase you find yourselves in is metal, painted white. Even in the dark, you can tell it’s all a monochromatic stairwell-- probably used by employees so as not to disturb guests, or whatever.

Your eyes are used to the darkness by now, but once the door creaks shut behind you, everything is suffocatingly dark-- again, you feel as if you’re underwater.

“O-Oikawa? Akaashi?” You whisper, and dumbly grope around to feel for them. Your right hand catches someone’s jacket sleeve, and your left hand touches someone else’s hand. 

“I’m here,” Akaashi breathes to your right, and you feel him pat your shoulder gently, like he was seeking you, too.

“Yeah, same,” Oikawa whispers, and grips your hand rather tightly, though you really don’t mind. Indie presses against your leg, probably aware of how nervous you’re growing.

You take a deep breath, and remember how you ran through this exact same scenario in the two hotels before this-- it’s routine, by now. Of course, before, you didn’t actually have the threat of Simon and Terushima breathing down your necks.

Akaashi flicks on his flashlight, points it at the ground, and leads you and Oikawa towards the first door leading to the first floor, Indie practically glued to your side.

On the way here, you had agreed to take floor one, Oikawa two, and Akaashi three. From there, you’ll all meet back up on floor four, and figure out how to get Kenma if you all haven’t found him by then. You all keep one earbud in, in case anyone calls for help on the radio, to keep the noise to a minimum.

Akaashi and Oikawa pause with you while you take a steadying breath, and when you nod your head, they nod back, and begin their ascent. You watch them for a moment before steeling your nerves, and gently push the heavy metal door open as quietly as possible.

You peek your head out, look down one end of the hallway, where the dead elevator and other flight of stairs are, and then the other, which has the corner leading to what you realize is the lobby, before letting out a sigh of relief. You tiptoe towards the first door you see, but before you make it there, the door to the staircase slams closed behind you with a loud _CLANK!_

You wince, and glance down at Indie-- you could swear she was looking at you as if to say, _“You blew it.”_

After a moment, though, you can make out the sound of voices coming from the lobby-- it’s definitely Kuroo and Simon talking. You probably don’t have a lot of time, so you tap Indie, indicating for her to follow you as you scurry to the end of the hallway, towards the elevator, so that you can start from the end and work your way up. You let out a brief exhale, and then tiptoe up to a door, leaning your ear against it. 

Of course, you can’t hear anything. 

“Kenma?” You whisper, hoping that that isn’t a stupid thing to do-- how else are you supposed to find him? You don’t have the room key!

You turn the handle anyway, and surprisingly, it opens with no problems. Oh-- all of the locks are electric, and since the power’s out, you don’t have to worry about any of the doors being locked. 

Peeking inside, you find the room is extremely dark, on account of the curtains being pulled tightly shut. You push the door open the rest of the way, and stand in the doorway, amazed to find this room is basically untouched. Everything is frozen here-- the bedsheets are put together, nothing is out of place, but if you squint, you can see a thin layer of dust on all of the wooden pieces of furniture. The scant amount of moonlight slipping through the curtains on the opposite end of the room provides a little bit of illumination for you to see, but you just wish you could use your flashlight. Being as inconspicuous as possible is the name of the game right now, though, so you just need to get used to the darkness.

Clearly, nobody is here, so you move on to the next room, closing this door quietly behind you. 

You do the same thing, lean your ear against the door, and whisper for Kenma before peeking inside. This one, too, is untouched, and it all feels extremely spooky-- is this place haunted? Thank goodness you have Indie with you-- although, you really wouldn’t be mad if you got to be the ‘Final Girl’ trope from horror movies.

As you fantasize about going on a ‘Scream’-style killing spree to avenge your murdered friends, you don’t notice Indie trot a few doors down to sniff obsessively at one of them. You feel her absence after a moment, and snap out of it just in time to hurry over to her before she starts making any noise. You pat her head, and she quits digging at the carpet to try and get in while you gently push the door open. 

This room, on the other hand, is very much inhabited.

It’s dimly lit by candles sitting on plates, resting all around on the floor and on desks. There’s a little pile of dirty clothes in the corner, some papers strewn about the desk, playing cards, all sorts of little trinkets.

And sitting on the bed, attempting to crochet a blanket, is a girl looking to be about fourteen-- blonde hair and bright, scared brown eyes blown wide as saucers the second you creak open the door. 

You freeze, eyes wide as your only option hits you like a truck: you need to shut her up before she screams or something. Quickly, you try to make yourself look as non-threatening as possible by slightly raising your hands in surrender, but the young girl glances at Indie, and visibly becomes more afraid. 

When she takes a deep inhale, you instinctively leap forward, tackling her to the bed with a loud _THUNK_ while you slap your hand over her mouth. You really didn’t want to do this, but your safety as well as your boys’ is on the line-- you can’t let some panicked kid ruin all of your progress.

“Shh! Please, I promise I’m not gonna hurt you! I-I’m looking for my friend!” You whisper, but based on how the girl is struggling underneath you, she doesn’t believe you for a second. You grit your teeth, and yelp when the girl bites your hand to get it off her mouth.

Before you can cover her mouth again, she screeches at the top of her lungs, “Aaaahhh! S-Simon, help!!”

Great. Is she Simon’s younger sister? You’re sure you’re gonna die now.

“Damn it!” You hiss, and roll off the bed quickly to dash out of the room, Indie right on your heels. 

You burst out of the room, almost careen into the opposite wall, and push yourself off to start running back down the hall towards the fire escape. 

Back towards the lobby, the unmistakable sound of bullets ricocheting off of a wall brings you to an abrupt stop. 

Your boys are back there. 

You clench your hands into a fist. No way are you just gonna run away without making sure they’re safe first.

No way are you leaving without Kenma. 

There just so happens to be a fire extinguisher to the left of you, mounted ever-so-beautifully on the wall. It’s even untouched, all of the glass intact and everything. 

Power’s out, so there’s no way an alarm will go off.

Pulling your jacket sleeve down over your fist, you punch right through the glass, and grit your teeth at the feeling of a few shards piercing through the fabric and into your skin. Whatever-- for now, you’re acting purely on adrenaline and protective instinct. 

You pry the fire extinguisher free, and wield it with dangerous purpose as you jog back down the hallway towards the lobby. 

The next second, Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto round the corner, sprinting towards you. You gasp, elated to see them-- when they spot you, they look just as happy, but the mood turns sour quickly when the Asshole Himself, Simon rounds the corner after them.

Of course, he’s brandishing a gun.

You grit your teeth, and pick up speed. Kuroo looks confused when you don’t turn around and join them in their escape, and instead run past them towards Simon-- he reaches out, grabs you by your sleeve in a desperate attempt to stop you, but you wrench yourself free and continue on. 

Kuroo yells your name while Simon skids to a halt, confused but entertained at whatever the fuck you’re planning.

“Gonna spray me with a little bit of fire retardant? That’s not gonna stop me from--”

“Simon, wait!” The blonde girl cuts him off as she rushes out of her room, behind Simon. His head whips around, worry evident in his features when his gaze lands on her.

“Yachi--” He doesn’t have time to finish, because you aren’t going to spray him with the fire retardant. In fact, you’re pleased to find that he doesn’t see it coming when you get dangerously close, grip the extinguisher with both hands, and swing it right into the side of his head. In the split second where he turned back to face you, he looked absolutely terrified, and attempted to use his palm to buffer the blow to his head-- it worked, since the extinguisher careened into his palm, but with the force you swung, he still gets knocked out cold.

It connects with his skin with a sickening _CLUNK!_ , and then the dark-haired boy crumples to the ground. You toss the extinguisher aside, extremely satisfied as Kuroo, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto rush up to you.

“You fucking dumbass!” Kuroo exclaims, sandwiching your face between his two large hands to force you to look at him. “You’re so fucking stupid! What the hell?!”

“Fuck you, I just saved us!” You yell right back. The two of you glare at each other for a moment, before Kuroo lets out a huff and pulls you against him in a tight hug. 

“Don’t do that again.” He mutters, but you wrap your arms around his middle anyways, very much aware of how much of a scare you caused them.

“Okay, next time I’ll just let you guys die.” You joke as Kuroo pulls away. He shakes his head, but can’t help but smile when you grin at him. 

“You are a dumbass.” Iwaizumi grunts, resting his hand on the crown of your head. “But you’re also a badass.”

“THAT’S OUR GIRL!!” Bokuto hollers, coming up from behind to swoop you up in his arms, twirling you around as you yelp and laugh, now that the danger is gone.

Bokuto gently sets you back down, and the four of you become aware of the young blonde girl all over again when she clears her throat.

“U-um… I think I know who you’re looking for.” She says timidly, but before she can explain further, a familiar boy with terribly dyed hair pokes his head out from Yachi’s room.

“Oh, there you guys are.” Kenma says, stepping out fully into the hallway. “Took you long enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW, that was a long one. i could have written more but i feel like that would be unnecessary-- everything that i wanted to write for this chapter turned out exactly how i planned muahahaha! that never happens lmfao
> 
> don't be afraid to comment! i respond to all of y'all, i love hearing what you have to say! i'll be responding to comments tonight, and once again, THANK YOU for all of your support!! happy new year!! <3


	9. Candles & Band-Aids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this mf is so long y'all.

To say that Yachi Hitoka had been through a lot these past few weeks would be an understatement. She knows that everyone she’s encountered probably shares that sentiment-- certainly, the girl who has tackled her to her bed, currently shoving her hand over her mouth must have been through her fair share of hardships, too!

That doesn’t stop Yachi from biting the fuck out of her, though.

When the girl curses and rushes out of Yachi’s room with her huge dog, the blonde sits on her bed, dumbfounded. After a moment, some guilt sets in. What if you really are here looking for your friend? Surely, Mr. Johnson couldn’t have gotten to everyone in L.A.-- what if you weren’t from around here, and you didn’t know any better?

But how could people from out of the city possibly make it _in_ , when it’s nearly impossible to get _out?_

“What was that?” Kenma, Yachi’s new friend, pokes his head out from her bathroom. She had offered it to him to wash up after Simon and Terushima made such a big fuss about keeping him locked up. Yachi, of course, had told them that that was ridiculous because Kenma was a person and not a pet, and he didn’t have to do whatever they told him to!

Simon had tried to act all tough and insist that he had the upper hand, until Yachi reminded him that he, in fact, did not-- their resources had been slowly depleting over the weeks, and Simon knew it. He knew he was outnumbered, and thus had resorted to “politely” asking Kenma to stay at the hotel until his friends were bound to come looking for him. Simon had to admit to Kenma that he needed help, after much pestering from Yachi.

Kenma had wrinkled his nose in disgust while he mulled over his options. On the one hand, he could risk rushing out of the hotel to run around an area he barely knew, just hoping to stumble across his friends rather than the guy with the rifle. On the other hand, he knew that Kuroo wouldn’t be able to rest until he was back with Kenma-- he was awfully clingy like that. So, Kenma had ultimately agreed, but only if he could stay with Yachi because, “Simon annoyed him.”

Yachi had welcomed the quiet boy into her room, and they had been resting peacefully until you had barged in.

Yachi doesn’t make the connection that you’re one of Kenma’s friends-- all he had talked about was some boy named Kuroo, so when a strange girl tackled her to her bed, she wasn’t exactly considering that Kenma could have had more than one friend-- let alone a girl!

Well, he is really quiet, and doesn’t seem the type to make a lot of friends--

Yachi shouldn’t judge!

She shakes herself out of her stupor as Kenma just stares at her, and with a gasp, she leaps off the bed.

She knows Simon is going to do something stupid and harmful, just like he always does when he’s cornered, and just as she’s about to rush out of her room, Simon marches right past, aiming his gun down the hall.

“Gonna spray me with a little bit of fire retardant? That’s not gonna stop me from--”

“Simon!” Yachi raises her voice for once as she steps out into the hallway. Of course, she gets there too late, and Simon faces his consequences: she watches as you knock him out cold, looking rather pleased with yourself-- honestly, she can’t completely blame you.

Yachi is a little scared as she watches your exchange with the rest of your friends-- but maybe if she gives you who you’re looking for, you’ll actually hear her out.

“U-um…” Yachi says, and freezes up when you and your friends turn to look at her. “I think I know who you’re looking for.”

Kenma walks up behind her, as nonchalant as ever. “Oh, there you guys are.Took you long enough.”

Yes, Yachi certainly has had her fair share of hardships. While you and your friends all but tackle Kenma in a group of hugs he does not want, she tries to find her words to convince your group to stay, as you all might be their last hope.

“Kenma, we’re so sorry!!” You wail, hugging him tightly as he tries to squirm out of your grasp. When he successfully gets away, he backs right into Kuroo, who smothers him in a bear hug.

“We missed ya, buddy!” He croons, and Bokuto pats Kenma’s head appreciatively. 

“You can let go now.” Kenma mutters.

“Nope, not gonna happen.” Kuroo grins, enjoying this because he’s missed Kenma and also because he likes to fuck with him.

At the other end of the hall, Oikawa careens down the stairs with Akaashi right behind him, bewildered as ever.

“Kenma!” They both say in unison as they jog up to your group.

“U-um…” Yachi tries, but her small voice doesn’t hold much weight as you all bombard Kenma with questions.

“What did they do to you?”

“Why are you so chill?! You just got kidnapped!”

“Why do you smell so good?”

“Guys!” You bark, hands on your hips. You’d noticed how Yachi was trying to get your attention, and you feel really bad for tackling her earlier, so you decide it’s only fair to hear her out-- she seems nice enough; a lot nicer than Simon, that’s for sure.

The boys quiet down, giving the small girl a chance to speak. She blushes, and sort of shrinks in on herself before taking a deep breath.

“I-I’m sorry about Simon and Terushima. They’re actually really nice once you get to know them!” She says. “It’s just… We’ve all kind of been on high-alert these past few weeks because some bad people are looking for us. Well, looking for Simon, mostly.”

“Called it.” Kuroo says smugly, earning him an eye-roll from you.

“W-we just need some help, honestly.” Yachi says, finally looking up to meet your gaze. 

She seems sincere. You feel her tugging on your heartstrings, and frown in thought.

“What makes you think we’re even able to help you?” Oikawa challenges. “We aren’t from around here-- actually, we kind of have somewhere more important to be.”

“He’s right.” Iwaizumi agrees. “No offense, but why should we help you with your problem?”

Yachi bites her lip, obviously at a loss for words. She looks like she wants to tell you more, but her hesitance tells you that she’s afraid of the consequences.

You turn back to the guys.

“We should at least wait until Simon wakes up-- plus, it’s dark out and we do need somewhere to stay for the night.” You reason, and Oikawa and Iwaizumi exchange a doubtful look. 

Kuroo, on the other hand, takes your side. “I think that’s a good idea. If nothing else, we can tie Simon up in a chair or something and get him to talk. He seems like he knows something important.”

“He does!” Yachi pipes up. “U-um, Simon kind of saved me and all the others in this hotel from Mr. Johnson.”

“Mr. Johnson? Are you talking about that Kurt Johnson guy?” Kuroo asks, suddenly very interested.

Yachi raises her eyebrows in surprise. “You know him?”

“No, Simon just asked if we knew him-- y’know, when he was holding Kenma and Akaashi hostage.” Oikawa says with a faux-smile. 

“Sorry,” Yachi looks down. “Simon’s just scared. We all are. We’re running out of food, and it’s getting more and more dangerous to go out on supply runs because of Mr. Johnson and his kids. One of our friends--”

“Yachi.” Terushima says from the other end of the hallway, his forehead scratched and bleeding from Kuroo’s radio assault. Yachi shuts up quickly, realizing she’s said too much. Terushima saunters up to your group, eyeing Simon’s passed out form on the floor. 

Kuroo takes a step forward, essentially pushing you behind him.

“Hey, man, sorry ‘bout the radio.” Kuroo says breezily. “But I was serious about how we got off on the wrong foot. How about you just let us stay here for the night, and we can talk more in the morning?”

Terushima narrows his eyes, his lips drawn in a thin line as he mulls things over. Finally, he lets out a defeated sigh, and offers his hand for Kuroo to shake.

“Sorry ‘bout the guns. And holding your friends hostage, or whatever.” He glances at Kenma and Akaashi. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Akaashi just nods, clearly choosing to stay silent while he analyzes all this new information. Kuroo shakes Terushima’s hand, though you can tell he’s being careful about this whole situation, when Kenma shrugs, and yawns loudly.

“Cool, we reached an agreement. Can we go to bed now? I’m tired of all this drama.” Kenma says, and you can’t help but laugh a little at his boredom. 

“Y-yeah, in fact, you guys can have your own rooms!” Yachi says-- she clearly wants your group to stay more than Terushima does. “I can take you to the empty ones! We all stay on the first floor so that we can evacuate easier.” She smiles brightly, despite the sort of dystopian thing she just said. 

Terushima begrudgingly watches her lead your group down the hall, and bends down to make sure Simon’s still breathing-- he is, thankfully, though he’s certainly going to have one bitch of a headache when he wakes up, if not a concussion. With a sigh, Terushima grabs Simon’s upper arms and hauls him up, dragging him down the other end of the hallway towards his room. You watch the young boy work, suddenly hit with the realization that he’s around your age-- why aren’t there any adults around? It’s not like you’ve had much time to ponder that simple fact lately. And when Yachi mentioned Mr. Johnson, she made it sound as if he was an adult-- he’d be the first one that you’ve encountered ever since things went to hell. So, who is he?

The light, airy feeling of adrenaline slowly seeps out of your body and weighs your muscles down, and you realize all over again how tired you are. Once again, these complex questions need to wait until you can thoroughly get your thoughts in order.

“How many people stay here?” You ask curiously, an attempt to distract yourself, as the girl leads you down the hallway.

“There used to be six of us, but now there’s only five because--” Yachi starts.

“Don’t answer that!” Terushima exclaims, dropping Simon’s arms, and they flop to the floor with a dull thud, as Terushima points accusingly at Yachi.. “C’mon, Yachi, we gotta wait for Simon!”

Yachi shuts up, but shoots you an apologetic look. You just wave your hand dismissively-- it’s not her fault, and plus, you really don’t feel like getting the details of yet another tragic backstory after what happened today. 

As much as Iwaizumi and Oikawa are against it, you all basically come to the agreement that you’ll have one conversation with Simon in the morning, and then decide if you want to help him out from there. It seems like everyone’s too tired to refuse a warm bed and a relatively safe room for the night, so you all go out to the van, gather your things, and park it behind the building. 

You drop your duffel bag on the floor with a big sigh while Indie goes around and sniffs your new room. Yachi stands in your doorway while you sit on the bed and unlace your boots-- it feels so soft, and the mattress is much springier than the one you left behind in the gym.

The room is relatively small, with one large bed pressed against the wall, sandwiched between two nightstands. Across from the doorway is a large window, boarded up with the curtains closed tightly. Across from the bed is another door, which you assume to be a closet, and next to that is the bathroom. A few used candles sit in groups on plates in various corners of the room and on the nightstands, and you notice a book of matches rests next to a group of candles on the nightstand to your left.

It’s nice. You feel a little flutter of uncertainty despite yourself, as the knowledge that Simon and Terushima are just a few doors down, with their guns and everything. At least you have Indie, in case they try anything in the middle of the night-- she’ll be sure to notice if anything is wrong. You scratch her ear when she comes up to sniff and lick your hand, clearly pleased with her new surroundings.

“We turn on our generator in the morning, so there’ll be hot water by then, so that you can take a shower.” The young girl explains, drawing your attention back to her, and you widen your eyes in excitement. 

“Really? Hot water?” 

Yachi nods, smiling brightly. “Yup! A-and, just so you know, we have big basins that we fill up individually to get as much water as we can so that we can use it throughout the week. Y-y’know, so that we don’t waste a lot of energy. We only have hot water once a week, so you came here at the right time.” She attempts a joke, and you laugh appreciatively. Yachi really is a sweet girl, and it’s nice to not be around any boys for once.

“Okay, thanks for letting me know.” You hum, and flop back on your bed, immensely grateful for the soft, springy mattress. 

“I-if you need anything, don’t be afraid to come by my door!” Yachi says, and turns to leave.

“Thanks!” You say, then sit up suddenly. “Oh, Yachi?”

“Hm?” She turns back, looking at you with those same wide eyes from before.

“Sorry about, um, before.” You say sheepishly. “I don’t usually act like that. Today’s just been… rough.”

Yachi nods. “It’s okay, I get it.” She says quietly, and glances at the floor, lost in thought for a moment. “W-well, good night!” Yachi hurries out of your room, closing the door behind her. 

You flop back down on the bed, and stare up at the ceiling.

Before you have a chance to get lost in thought again, you notice that your knuckles throb, and you pull your hand in front of your face only to frown at the broken, bloody skin. A few shards of glass stick out from your knuckles, and you think for a moment how the You from a few weeks ago would be shaking and crying at the current state you’re in. Now, though, you only feel sort of irritated that you have yet another problem to solve.

The more you stare at your hand, the more you realize that you’re actually in pain-- it feels hot, and when you flex your fingers, sharp pain lights up your nerves and you wince at the sensation. You need to get patched up-- but the person you had all agreed to trust the medical supplies to was Oikawa. Each of you have your own simple first aid kits, of course, but Oikawa’s the one with the heavy duty stuff. With an over-dramatic groan, you shift to use your good hand to unclip your radio from your belt, and press the talk button.

“Oikawa, do you copy?” You ask. After a minute too long of silence, you frown and try again. “Shitty-kawa, do you copy?”

A few more moments pass by, and then Oikawa finally responds.

“God, what?” He asks, clearly annoyed and a little pouty at the name-calling, but you just grin at the teasing.

“I need you to come to my room.”

“Woah, woah, woah.” Bokuto’s voice cuts in. “Why do you need pretty-boy to come to your room?”

You open your mouth to respond, but are once again cut off.

“Awe, don’t be jealous just ‘cause she wants me to be there for her.” You can definitely hear the cocky smirk in his voice.

“Shut the fuck up, Flatty-kawa, built like a wooden plank headass,” Kuroo’s voice joins in, and you can’t stifle your laughter at the sudden jab.

“Don’t be mean!” Oikawa exclaims.

“I know the motherfucker with a damn rooster on his head didn’t say sumn’,” Iwaizumi quips right back.

“Bitch shut up, at least I have a hairstyle, meanwhile your musty ass over here lookin’ like Bart Simpson with all that spiky-ass hair.” Kuroo says, and you cover your mouth in shock as you laugh even harder.

“Guys, can we not? She might actually need help.” Akaashi cuts in.

“I just need some antiseptic for my hand, I smashed it through the glass to get the fire extinguisher.” You finally get a word in, trying to conceal the laughter threading through your voice.

“Okay, I’m coming over now,” Oikawa says.

“If he tries anything, let us know,” Bokuto warns, and you giggle at his protective-ness. 

“I really don’t think Oikawa has the balls to actually make a move.” You say, and earn a chorus of “oohhs” and “damns!” through the radio.

“Ohhh, so are you saying you _want_ me to make a move?” Oikawa responds.

“Ima beat your ass if you try somethin’, Shitty-kawa,” Iwaizumi grunts, and no sooner does he say that than do you hear a light knock on your door.

You haul yourself up and let Oikawa in with a sheepish smile. He’s got the impressive medical bag slung over one shoulder-- your hometown actually had a lot of medical supplies from each of the hospitals your group had raided. You couldn’t find any guns, but at least your group wasn’t in any shortage of pain medication.

“Geeze, your hand is seriously messed up,” Oikawa says, grimacing at the ugly sight before him. You wave your bloodied hand in front of him teasingly. His insult just rolls right off of you at this point; you know he’s only being an ass. 

“Don’t pussy out on me, Flatty-kawa.” You grin, to which the handsome boy just rolls his eyes. He leads you to the bathroom, and you fumble to light all of the candles in there with the matches from your nightstand. It’s still pretty dark, but at least you can see each other-- and when Oikawa pulls out his flashlight, you feel a little better knowing that he can look at your injuries properly.

The two of you sit on the edge of the bathtub, and Oikawa takes your hand to inspect it, holding it in both of his larger hands gingerly. He gives you his flashlight, which you click on to shine on your knuckles while he gets to work.

“This is pretty risky, you know.” He comments as he uses tweezers to pull out the larger shards of glass from your skin. 

“What, staying here?” You ask, and wince as the pain intensifies. It does feel sort of like a relief to have the glass pulled out of your skin, though.

Oikawa quickly soaks up the excess blood with a rag, and then pours water from his water bottle onto your hand, holding it over the tub for a moment. The two of you watch your blood mixed with the precious water as it trickles down, staining the pretty white surface before swirling down the drain.

“Yeah.” He finally confirms, then brings your hand back over his lap. “I don’t know how to put in stitches, but we have those medical staples-- it’s, uh, probably gonna hurt.”

You sigh with a grimace. It really was stupid of you to break the glass. “Okay. I guess I don’t really have much choice, huh?”

“Yeah, you kind of screwed yourself there.” Oikawa hums as he pulls out the antiseptic and medical stapler. You gently punch his arm with your good hand in retaliation to his comment. “Ouch!” He exclaims over-dramatically, and you smile, extending your hand to him once more as you hold the flashlight steady.

“Who do you think that Mr. Johnson guy is?” You ask, trying to distract yourself as he dabs the stinging antiseptic on.

“I dunno,” He says thoughtfully, brows furrowed in concentration. “He definitely doesn’t sound good. But I’m not too fond about the guys we’re staying with, either.”

“Yeah,” You sigh. “I feel like we came out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

Oikawa hums in agreement, then gets the stapler ready, and gets to work.

It really doesn’t hurt as much as you thought it would-- he does a shoddy job, that’s for sure, but it’s probably his first time. The only reason you all agreed to let him carry the medical supplies was because his mom had been a doctor, and he had claimed to know a thing or two from her. His skills in the medical field are yet to be determined, though.

“We should just leave straight for Ohio tomorrow.” He says after a few moments of silence. You raise your eyebrow. Oikawa’s always been so keen on escaping to Ohio with you-- is he really the only one left of his family and friends, that he has nothing tying him here?

“Don’t you have anybody you’re looking for? I’m not saying I don’t want you to come to Ohio with me, it’s just…” You shrug when his eyes glance up to meet yours. “I dunno. Don’t you have anybody left?”

Oikawa’s gaze drops back to your hand. You feel his grip tighten just a fraction, and then he continues his work. 

“No.”

It’s such a quiet confirmation of your saddest suspicion-- you feel your heart clench, and for a moment, the pain in your hand is forgotten in favor of pitying the boy in front of you. You know he probably doesn’t want any pity, but you still feel it. He’s probably in such a hurry to leave here because of everything he’s been through-- whatever the details are, you aren’t sure, but you have a suspicion that it was fairly traumatic. On some level, you understand. Staying here, in the same state where everything went to hell-- where you lost your parents and your best friend-- where you’ve had to fight for your life every other week, it’s exhausting. The only time you’ve been relatively safe is when you’ve been on the move.

You wish so badly things weren’t like this-- you wish so badly you had befriended Oikawa when things were normal.

“If we’d met before this, what do you think we would’ve been like?” You ask, attempting to lighten the mood.

Oikawa breathes out a quick laugh through his nose, and smirks at you, straightening up to face you properly. 

“You would’ve definitely had a crush on me.” He says, and he’s so sure of himself that you want to sock him. You give him an unimpressed look.

“Absolutely not.”

“You so would!” He smiles his dazzling smile, and goes over your cuts one more time with the antiseptic now that he’s finished stapling the large cuts closed. “I’m definitely your type.”

“Uh-- how are you so sure?!” You challenge, suddenly very indignant.

“I’m everybody’s type.” Oikawa smirks, and meets your gaze once again with a confident glint in his pretty brown eyes.

Damn it. He’s right. He’s so unbelievably cocky-- but he’s right. You huff, and roll your eyes while he wraps your hand and wrist in gauze.

“Okay, sure,” You concede, “but _I’m_ definitely not _your_ type.” You joke, and give him a sideways smile.

“What makes you so sure?” He spins your words right back at you with a playful lilt.

“I dunno,” you shrug, growing a little flustered as you fight back a blush. “It just seems like you’d go more for, like, really popular girls. Y’know, like the pretty cheerleader type.”

Oikawa just hums, thinking over what you said. He finishes wrapping your hand, then sits back to study you as you click off the flashlight, leaving the two of you in the dim light of the candles surrounding you. 

The longer his gaze stays on you, the more fidgety you become. Finally, you huff and grin at him playfully. 

“What?” You ask. 

Oikawa shrugs. “You are my type, actually,” He finally says, and _that_ throws you off guard. You sputter, and glance away quickly as your blush grows. Damn this cute, pretty boy and his stupid, cocky, self-assured attitude! He definitely knew that you’d react like this if he said some shit like that.

“Actually, my girlfriend broke up with me like, two weeks before we went into quarantine, so I would’ve been available if we’d met during school!” Oikawa flashes you a smile, and you frown, once again annoyed with him.

“Oh, well, thank God. I was so afraid I wouldn’t have anybody to take me to prom.” You say sarcastically.

“Awe, really? You didn’t have a date already?”

“No,” You shake your head, and stand up, stretching your arms high above your head in an attempt to crack your back. “Actually, I was gonna go to prom with Sami.”

Oikawa nods, and a somber feeling settling over the two of you; you feel a little guilty for ruining the good mood. With a sigh, you turn to the mirror to distract yourself, and attempt to fix your hair while Oikawa puts away all the medical supplies. 

“I found my sister the same way, you know. And my nephew.” Oikawa says quietly, and you glance at him in the reflection. Your hands fall limply to your sides, and you turn to him, leaning back against the bathroom counter.

“I’m sorry.” You say, and Oikawa just stares ahead, lost in thought. After a moment or two, he finally stands, and when he looks at you, for the first time, you feel like you’re really seeing him. There isn’t any trace of a smile, no semblance of the jovial, annoying Oikawa that you’ve become familiar with. Instead, he just looks… real. Genuine.

Sad.

Just like you.

“I’m glad you were there for me today.” You finally say, and it’s so quiet, you’re not sure if he heard you. The more his chocolate brown eyes bore into yours, the closer you feel. He gets it-- he gets you right now.

“Me, too.” He murmurs. The longer the two of you stand there, the calmer you feel. There’s no pressure to accept any “I’m sorry”s from people who don’t know what it feels like to find a loved one, dead and rotting in a car. It’s just quiet right now-- it just feels like acceptance. You take a small step forward, then another, until finally, you wrap your arms around Oikawa’s middle. As you bury your face into his chest, he wraps his arms around you tightly-- so tight, it’s like he’s afraid you’ll slip from his grasp. 

He rests his chin on the crown of your head, and you feel him take a deep breath, the gentle thud of his heartbeat the only thing filling your ears the longer you stand there. You’ve hugged Oikawa plenty of times-- but right now, it feels a little more important. More weighted-- maybe it’s your shared baggage, you think wryly.

Something cold nudges your elbow, and you jump out of Oikawa’s grasp to find Indie trying to nuzzle her way into the hug. Oikawa just grins, and pats Indie, which she accepts whole-heartedly with a wag of her tail. 

“She’s a good girl.” He hums, and you nod with a small smile. Oikawa slings the medical bag over his shoulder, and after you snuff out all the candles, you walk him back to the exit of your room. 

“Well, goodnight.” You say a little awkwardly as you open the door. He steps out, then turns and leans against the door frame, smiling down at you with an expression you can’t quite read.

“If you can’t sleep well tonight, that’s normal.” He pulls out his radio, and clicks the channel dial over to channel 2. “If you wanna talk or anything, we can use channel 2 to be just between us.”

You nod, and feel your face grow a little warm. Just the two of you. It feels like a secret pact, like a pinky promise that two grade schoolers would make on the playground. You can’t help the smile that pulls at your lips when you glance up into Oikawa’s pretty eyes.

“Okay. Thank you.” You say, and he nods, pockets the radio, and walks back down the hallway towards his room. He’s only two doors down-- that’s good to know. You watch him leave until he reaches his door, he turns and waves to you, and the two of you slip back into your respective rooms.

The darkness that shrouds your room just makes you even more exhausted, and Indie seems to be as ready for sleep as you are. You pull off your multiple layers of clothes, dropping them on the floor carelessly. Unzipping your duffel bag, you pull out a large shirt and pull it over your head, and finally, you flop down in the middle of the large, soft bed.

The more you lay there alone, the more you think about today. All of the events flash through your mind in no particular order, and it feels as if a great weight settles deeper and deeper inside your chest. 

Sami’s really gone. You’re never gonna hear her laugh again. You’re never gonna argue with her about the ending of How I Met Your Mother. 

She would’ve liked the group you befriended-- she would probably crush on Iwaizumi, or maybe Akaashi. She and Kuroo definitely would’ve gotten into a good amount of arguments. The thought makes you smile, despite yourself. Indie hops up on the bed and curls up at your feet, just like she always would at home, and you’re grateful for the company as you continue to stare off into space. You don’t have the energy to cry. All you feel is a distant nothingness, a sort of void akin to what you felt when everyone first started disappearing-- when you had realized that your mom and dad were never coming home.

Despite the bad thoughts, sleep pulls at your exhausted muscles. You turn your head, and eye your radio with a smile as you remember the dumb conversation that had brought you so much joy not even an hour ago-- plus, Oikawa is just a channel away if you really can’t lay alone with your thoughts.

You’re not alone. It’s something you have to remind yourself of-- things are bad, but at least they’re bad while you’re with your friends.

Once you get settled underneath the cold, crisp bedsheets, the silence is deafening. Hotels are always so hauntingly familiar-- even though it’s the middle of the apocalypse, and you’re plenty of miles from home, you feel like you’ve been here before-- not in a good way. A chill goes up your spine, and you grip one of the dozens of pillows piled on your bed, holding it close to your chest as you try to ignore the very real danger of Simon and Terushima just down the hall. You’re sort of looking forward to the prospect of getting some answers tomorrow-- for now, though, you just let out a sigh and try not to worry. 

Indie shifts to press closer into your side, and you feel a bit better. You’re not alone.

As you drift off into a dreamless sleep, with Indie safely at your feet, you realize that you left your stuffed animal back home.

[-]

Rain again this morning.

It’s quite bizarre, especially for L.A., Iwaizumi thinks-- but, then again, he realizes that he doesn’t even know what day or month it is, let alone what season you’re still in. It was just the beginning of spring when everything went to hell, but these days it’s either hot or cold as hell-- no in between. He hasn’t bothered to look at a calendar since his parents disappeared-- plus, he feels like it isn’t too important to know whether it’s Tuesday or Sunday, considering the circumstances.

But it does sort of bother him. A little. Like how people would go insane in solitary confinement when they couldn’t figure out what time it was.

He wonders for a moment what happened to all the prisoners-- did they all disappear, or were the stragglers left to rot once everything went to hell? Or is there a gang of prisoners hiding out somewhere, adding on to the list of things he has to look out for?

He blinks his eyes open. The sun isn’t even up yet-- what lovely thoughts to have before the day has even started.

A working clock on the wall tells him that it’s 4:30am. At least he won’t go insane over wondering what time it is.

With a grunt, Iwaizumi accepts that he probably won’t be able to drift off to sleep again, though he doesn’t get much rest anyways these days. He’s always on edge-- he’s only gotten more on edge since you got here.

Not because you irritate him; you’re just another person for him to protect, to worry about.

It’s annoying. But at least you’re nice, and you have a good dog. And you’ve been helpful-- and you’re nice. And pretty.

Iwaizumi shakes his head. Again, what kind of weird thoughts is he having this morning?

Stepping out into the hallway, Iwaizumi feels alert and hyper-aware of his surroundings and the dangers that are still very much present in the form of Dipshit 1 and Dipshit 2: Simon and Terushima. He isn’t sure which room they’re cowering in, but Iwaizumi refuses to be caught off-guard this morning-- so, in a way, it’s good that he woke up at the asscrack of dawn. 

Creeping down the hallway, he decides to do some snooping. Perhaps there’s extra guns or weapons lying around, perfect for him to borrow (steal).

As he inspects the empty rooms, he notices that a few of them have clearly been inhabited before, as evidenced by stray pieces of clothing, snuffed-out candles, unmade beds-- people either willingly left Simon’s group, or they were forcibly taken. Based on what little he knows about Simon and Kurt Johnson, it could easily be either of those options. But Yachi is a sweet girl-- why is she staying with these two assholes? Are her options really that limited?

Is Kurt Johnson worse than Simon?

“What’re you doing?” 

Iwaizumi jumps at the sudden presence of Akaashi right behind him as he snoops in one of the rooms. Iwaizumi turns, eyes narrowed at Akaashi, and closes the door behind him, and glances around to make sure he won’t be surprised by any more of his friends coming out of nowhere.

“I’m looking for useful stuff.” Iwaizumi says, and Akaashi walks by his side as he continues his search.

“Like guns?” Akaashi guesses, and Iwaizumi grunts in response. The darker-haired boy falls silent for a moment, then decides to speak his mind. “Probably not a good idea to be poking the hornet’s nest right as we’ve sort of gotten on their good side.”

Iwaizumi huffs. He’s got a point, but Iwaizumi refuses to stay in this hotel, paralyzed by fear. 

“I’m not pokin’ any hornet’s nests.” He half-lies. “I just wanna know exactly what we’re up against.”

“I think you should give up on the hope that we’ll ever know anything about what’s going on at this point.” Akaashi says, and the two boys halt when one of the doors before them creaks open.

Yachi steps out, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she holds a lit candle steady on a small white saucer. When she catches sight of Iwaizumi and Akaashi, she looks surprised and a little apprehensive.

“We’re just going to wake up our other friends.” Akaashi says, trying to sound as nice as possible. Yachi just nods, avoiding eye contact. 

“T-that’s a good idea.” She says. “I’m going to turn on the generator right now, and it’ll be on all morning, s-so we get to have hot breakfast today.” With a nod, the blonde closes her door behind herself, and hurries toward the lobby. 

The two boys exchange a look, and finally, Iwaizumi huffs out a sigh.

“Look, when we have that talk with Simon today, let’s just focus on gettin’ as much information as we can, and then gettin’ the hell outta here.” Iwaizumi mutters. 

Akaashi just frowns. “I don’t think we should commit to leaving until we know exactly what the situation is-- what if we run away, just to get caught by Kurt Johnson?” 

Iwaizumi grits his teeth. Whoever the hell this Kurt Johnson guy is, he sure is causing a lot of fucking stress.

“We’re dealing with too many unknowns,” Akaashi continues, and knocks on the door behind Iwaizumi, the room that Bokuto chose to stay in. “It’s frustrating, but Yachi let us stay here and sleep the entire night without any problems, so there’s at least one person here that I’m willing to trust. We can’t move forward at all if we aren’t willing to at least hear them out.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Iwaizumi just scoffs, and walks back down the hallway towards yours and Oikawa’s rooms. “Meet you in the lobby for breakfast.”

[-]

What happens when you put nine tense, scared, and rightfully paranoid teenagers all in one room, without any adult supervision? Usually, this would be the perfect scenario for a high school socratic seminar-- but right now, it’s the middle of the apocalypse, and you’re positive that a Courtyard Hotel has never been inhabited with this much negative energy until now. 

The tension is palpable as you all sit in various types of chairs, which you’ve all arranged into a circle-- the lobby’s furniture is quite comfortable, despite the circumstances. The generator hums quietly all around the building, and every single candle in the space is lit, as the electric lights remain off. The rain pattering outside, coupled with the occasional hiccups of energy from the generator are all you hear while everyone sits in wait, unsure of how to begin this, whatever “this” is.

Simon sits in a large armchair, head tilted down slightly as he observes all of you. His dark green gaze lingers on you for a moment, and you think that he would look so handsome if only he weren’t so murderous. His forehead has a large bandage taped over where you smacked him, and you can’t help the little smirk that pulls at your lips-- you’re still quite proud of yourself for that, even though your hand still throbs with lingering pain.

Oikawa had hooked you up with some good pain killers this morning, though, and that coupled with the first warm shower you got to enjoy in weeks puts you in one of your more pleasant moods. You had all taken about two hours to fully wake up, take hot showers, eat hot breakfasts-- oatmeal!-- and change and wash your clothes, thanks to the massive generator attached to this hotel. 

Yachi isn’t present for this meeting, as she had volunteered to do everyone’s laundry-- that was sweet of her, but you’re a little disappointed that she isn’t here, since she seems to be the only one that can make Simon see a bit of reason.

Kuroo-- who sits one seat away from you, with Kenma between you-- clears his throat, and leans forward in his chair. He’s wearing a loose black tee shirt coupled with dark jeans, and his usual boots that he had a chance to clean off the night before. Since it’s so cold on account of the strange weather, you’re all tucked into your respective coats, though you wouldn’t be surprised if you start sweating out of nervousness from this whole discussion.

The guns are all put away, at least-- or, that’s how it appears. Hopefully Simon doesn’t try to pull a sneak-attack on you.

“Okay, I guess I’ll start. No bullshit this time.” Kuroo clears his throat, attempting to sound as diplomatic as possible. “We just wanna get out of here as alive as possible, and it seems like you guys know a hell of a lot more than we do. Obviously, if we don’t know what we’re up against in this city, we probably won’t be able to leave it successfully. So, I propose we find a solution that benefits the both of us with the least amount of risk.”

He’s stupidly elegant in how he gets all that out-- you’re almost positive he rehearsed that little introductory paragraph the night before.

Simon rubs the back of his head with a sigh. 

“You’re not wrong about this city being dangerous.” He finally says, his deep voice reverberating around the room. “Although, I’d argue your group is a force to be reckoned with. Especially her,” Simon nods towards you, “considering she gave me a concussion. Thanks for that.”

“You almost shot me in the head.” You counter, and cross your arms. “Don’t bitch at me for defending myself when _you_ were chasing after me and my friends with a gun.”

“If y’all had been honest with us from the start, we wouldn’t have had to go on the offensive.” Simon retorts, and you scoff along with Iwaizumi. You notice a twinge of an accent come through Simon’s words, but you don’t comment on it.

“Yeah, and if you hadn’t taken our friend hostage we wouldn’t have had to plan a fucking stealth mission to get him back.” Iwaizumi shoots back, and Terushima jumps to his feet.

“Okay, okay, relax!” He exclaims. “Damn, we can sit here and point fingers all day, but that ain’t gonna move us forward!” The blonde huffs, and gestures to Simon. “Look, if Simon’s gonna beat around the bush, I won’t. Here’s what’s happened since shit hit the fucking fan: me and him escaped from some weirdo cult run by that guy Kurt Johnson. He’s the only adult we’ve seen ever since shit went south--” Kuroo perks up, interested. “--and at first, we trusted him. He’s a doctor. I mean, shit, when all this started, I was just another kid wandering around, hungry and scared without his parents or family. But, Kurt found me, and he took me to Kaiser-- that hospital a few miles away. He found a lot of kids, and took ‘em all back to the hospital. He saved me.”

Terushima pauses, and glances at the floor for a moment, clearly emotional as he recounts his experience. Simon clears his throat, and Terushima sits back down, rubbing his forehead with a frown.

“Kurt did save us.” Simon admits. “But, something was off about him. He’d always wear this insane hazmat suit whenever he went outside. I thought it had something to do with the virus, or with the adults disappearing, but he never explained anything about it. Just said he was being cautious. Anyway, he’d found me and my brother at UCLA-- we’d been staying on campus at the time for the graduate program, and other students had formed survival groups before we’d had a chance to try and join them. Most of the students fled the city two weeks after disappearances got really bad-- so, sometime around the middle of April.”

You blink. First off, this is the most you’ve ever heard Simon speak at once. Second off, you would have never guessed that he was in college-- he looked like he was your age! Third, you had no idea that April had already passed. Are you in May already?

“Anyways, me and my brother-- Hunter-- were grateful when Kurt discovered us. We agreed to go back to help him at Kaiser-- he said he had a lot of kids back there that needed to be taken care of. Hunter and I had been planning to go back to Connecticut to find our parents, but by then, we weren’t even sure if they were alive. Kurt promised us that he’d find a way to get us back home, and that we could stay with him while we got our shit figured out. It was a good idea-- he had food, shelter, running water, medical knowledge. We were happy there.”

Kuroo narrows his eyes. You’re pretty sure you know what he’s thinking; Kurt’s whole system was a little too good to be true, and here you all are, so what was the catch?

Simon takes a deep breath before he continues.

“My brother and I are-- were-- only a few months apart in age. He was 24, and so was I.” He clears his throat, and you furrow your eyebrows. Why is that an important detail? 

“At Kaiser, there weren’t many other older kids-- everyone was mostly around your guys’ age, or younger, if they hadn’t died in car accidents or house fires or whatever else.” Simon’s gaze remains on the carpet, unfocused but intense. “Kurt would train us how to shoot, he’d read us excerpts from that book The Art of War, like he was training us for something. I mean, shit, he even started teaching us physics. He told us that it was important to start preserving the discoveries of man now more than ever. But, everything he taught us was so random, like he was just wasting our time… or, maybe he was biding his time…” 

Simon trails off for a moment, and you exchange an extremely worried glance with Bokuto.

“Well, anyway. There was this other girl, named Jennifer. She was Hunter’s age-- and Kurt was obsessed with them. I mean, he was sorta obsessed with all the kids, but Hunter and Jennifer especially. One day, he’d called them into his office, and the two of them stayed in there for hours-- almost the whole day. When they came back out, they looked… different. Like, haunted.”

“And that was when Kurt started acting _really_ weird.” Terushima grits out. You gulp, and your gaze remains on Simon, desperate for him to continue.

“He’d train all the kids how to use guns, how to start fires, basic survival tactics-- but then, he started doing blood work on them. Every week, a new group of kids would get their blood drawn, and some of the older ones would even get their bone marrow drawn.” Simon lifts the hem of his shirt up, and slightly pulls down the side of his jeans, to expose a nasty scar right on his hip. “Me, included. Hunter and Jennifer wouldn’t talk to me as much-- and the kids were all on Kurt’s side. Well, most of the kids. Yachi and the others were getting more uncomfortable with Kurt, and that was when we all banded together to plan our escape.”

“Escape?” Kuroo pipes up. “You were being held there forcibly?”

Simon nods. “We thought that Kurt was just helping us-- but, eventually, it felt like we were experiments. He started to enforce curfew, strict sleeping hours, specific diets. It was like we were being raised for something.”

“Like cattle.” Terushima adds.

“Shit,” Iwaizumi curses under his breath.

“W-well, how’d you get out?” You ask, and you can’t help the waver in your voice.

“One night, we all packed up our stuff and ran.” Simon says. “It wasn’t all that fancy-- we just had to be quiet. But, before all that-- I mean, the reason I escaped,” He narrows his eyes, “is because I think Kurt killed my brother and Jennifer.”

“He definitely did-- and we were gonna be next!” Terushima insists. 

“What happened?” Oikawa prompts, clearly antsy to get this story over with.

“Hunter had been acting real depressed for a few days leading up to this-- right before his 25th birthday. Jennifer was in the same boat; but her birthday was a week after Hunter’s. Kurt, on the other hand, was ecstatic. Excited, even. And, on the morning of Hunter’s 25th birthday, he went with Kurt into the basement of that fucking hospital, and he never came back out. I was the only one who saw it.” Simon wipes at his eyes, attempting not to cry. “Kurt told the other kids that he’d sent Hunter out to go look for more kids in other states to bring them back to safety at Kaiser, and that he wouldn’t be back for a while. I had a gut feeling that something was wrong-- that Jennifer was in trouble, too. And sure enough, a week later, Jennifer turned 25, and she went down to the basement, and she didn’t come back up.”

“Kurt told us that she was sent on a mission, too.” Terushima scowls. “And all those kids believed him!”

“That very night, we escaped.” Simon finishes.

A tense silence settles over the group. Well… not a whole lot of your questions regarding the entire apocalypse were answered. Personally, you had been expecting Simon to explain that Kurt was responsible for the past two months, and that he had been inserting chips into everyone’s brains so you had to take him down!

But, instead, all you got was a super fucking weird and tragic story. How in the hell was Simon expecting you all to help him?

“I’m… I’m so sorry you had to go through all that,” you begin carefully. “But… what are you expecting us to _do_? I mean, do you want us to like, kill the guy?”

“We’d have a bunch of feral children chasing after us if we did that.” Oikawa muses, irritation seeping through his usually pleasant voice. You’re sure he feels as if his time has been wasted, sitting here and listening to that. “If you’re already away from Kurt Johnson, why not make a little escape like you all did before, and just get the hell out of L.A.?”

“Not possible.” Simon sighs.

“Kurt’s taken over the whole city, by now. He doesn’t just operate out of Kaiser-- he’s got teenagers working under him all over L.A., finding people and bringing them back to him.” Terushima says. “Honestly, we’re surprised that _we_ found you before Kurt and his people did.”

“Hold up.” Kuroo says. “You said that Kurt is after you.”

Simon nods.

“Let me guess.” Kuroo hums, sitting back in his chair. “It’s because you’re gonna be 25 years old, or you are already.” 

Simon nods grimly.

“What does age have to do with it?” Kenma finally pipes up. He’s been listening intently-- you’re sure he probably wants to solve this problem, now that he’s been dragged into it.

“I don’t know.” Simon confesses. “But once Hunter died, Kurt started paying special attention to me. He’d told me that after Jennifer went on her ‘mission’, that he’d have a long talk with me in his office. I’m guessing that’s where he was planning on telling me his evil plan, or whatever. The point is, I felt like I was living on a timer-- and I think Kurt’s raising these kids only to be 25 years old, and then killing them.”

“But why? What’s the point?” You press. Simon hooks you with an intense, haunted gaze.

“I don’t know.”

…

Your shoulders slump. You set your jaw, a look of mild displeasure etching itself across your features. 

“Lemme get this straight.” You grit out, well-aware that you’ve stepped over any of the boys’ chance to speak. “You want us to help you with some half-baked, probably suicidal mission, going up against a probably-murderer with his army of children and guns-- and you expect us to agree to help you-- after you’ve basically already _assaulted_ us?”

“We let you stay here last night! This is probably the safest place to be, aside from Kaiser.” Terushima leaps to Simon’s defense. 

“ _Yachi_ let us stay here last night!” You jump to your feet, extremely irritated that you still have zero answers after Simon promised them to you. Hooking Simon with your almost murderous glare, you cross your arms. “You made it seem like you had all the answers, and that we were just lost, wayward souls caught up in the middle of some war or something. Instead, you’re just as clueless as we are-- you’re just as helpless, and after kidnapping our friend, _shooting at us,_ and just generally being an asshole, you expect us to risk our lives for you?!”

“Back up,” Terushima warns, on his feet and taking a step towards you. In response, Iwaizumi and Bokuto stand, fists curled at their sides as the tension once again rises in the room, but not once does your gaze leave Simon’s.

He just sits there, quiet as ever, probably imagining all the different ways he could kill you. 

Several moments of silence pass, and somewhere down the hallway, you hear Yachi calling for Indie, and the subsequent jingle of her dog tags as she bounds up to the girl. The generator hiccups, then resumes humming, and Kenma decides to speak up.

“I think we should stay and help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW.
> 
> okay, i really thought about splitting this up into two chapters, but i felt like i've taken way too much time to get to Simon's sob-story already, so i just said fuck it and pushed through to the end. i hope this wasn't too much all at once!!
> 
> this is just the tip of the iceberg, y'all. i'm really excited about where the story is going, and i hope you guys are enjoying everything so far! <3
> 
> THANK YOU ALL so much for your kudos, comments, bookmarks, etc. don't be afraid to comment! i loooove reading what y'all think, and having little convos with you guys really brightens my day! 
> 
> drink some water, eat a vegetable, and stay lovely!! love you guys <3 see you next update!


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